Manolo for the Men Fashion and Lifestyle Advice for Men

Choosing the right winter coat is a notoriously tricky task. It is the first item anyone will see when you walk into a room, so you have to get it right. Ensuring it will match everything from your ironic Christmas jumper to your purple-suede Clarks, while still being on trend, makes things even more complicated.

Fortunately for you, the high street is your friend again this year, with Debenhams in particular faring well with their selection of men’s coats for the colder half of the year.

The blue vs black battle continues to rage on, with blue the undisputed victor this time around, especially in darker navy shades. Nautica’s navy lightweight duffle coat ticks all the boxes, will provide you with ample protection from those icy winds and pesky snow showers while also being very much on trend.

One of the more controversial hits of the season is the puffa jacket, and it is unsurprisingly causing quite a stir online. Although they are viewed by many as an abomination best left in the nineties, designers such as Ralph Lauren and DKNY have featured the much-maligned puffa heavily in their 2012 collections. Whatever your preconceptions are about the puffa, it is difficult to deny that they provide a welcome splash of fun and colour to the usual proliferation of identikit pea-coats doing the rounds at this time of year.

At the other end of the spectrum, military styling is in its ascendency again, possibly as a homage to the guardsman’s jacket-toting Libertines, whose debut album Up the Bracket is celebrating its tenth birthday this month. The notched collars are perfect to keep out passing gales.

Despite all this, without doubt the biggest winner this season is leather, with Hermes, Belstaff and others pairing leather coats with trousers and even shirts in a move that makes the double denim fad seem tame by comparison. One of leather’s greatest selling points, however, is that it can be worn all year round, so no need to consign it to the wardrobe again when the clocks go forward come spring. A well-fitted leather jacket is a staple that everyone should have in their collection, with its current popularity ensuring that you have plenty of options to find the perfect version for you.

Most people only purchase one winter coat, so it is imperative you need to choose the right garment for you that provides versatility and protection from the elements at the same time. Ensure it is something you will not get tired with quickly as the winter weather will mean you will be pulling it on for many months yet. Be it a statement puffa or a sophisticated trench, you have a huge variety to choose from, so be sure to make the right choice.

 

The New York Times is reporting that, due to the high violent crime rate, a shop in Mexico City is specializing in bulletproof armor disguised as ordinary clothing:

There are bulletproof leather jackets and bulletproof polo shirts. Armored guayabera shirts hang next to protective windbreakers, parkas and even white ruffled tuxedo shirts. Every member of the sales staff has had to take a turn being shot while wearing one of the products, which range from a few hundred dollars to as much as $7,000, so they can attest to the efficacy of the secret fabric.

Izzy wonders if the store sells Kevlar socks—for when he shoots himself in the foot.

While the Moncler parka continues to have its defenders, Izzy remains adamant that at best it makes you look like a gorilla puffing his chest out, at worst the Michelin Man.  Bulk is never elegant.