Outer Gowns

Back in the day, a polo coat was created as a warming layer for sportsmen – polo players and tennis players in particular – to wrap around themselves while resting in between chukkas or sets. Our hero would get hot whilst playing, then would need an extra layer to keep warm for the next bout of activity.

These polo coats were therefore stripped back coats. The length and the wrap of a coat was needed, but not the structure in the shoulders. Similarly, fiddly buttons were often done away with in favour of the coats being worn open or with a simple belt tie to hold the coat closed.

Then, as often happens, what was developed out of a functional requirement started spilling out into more mainstream style. The sporting world (much like the military uniforms of old) is owed a lot of credit for inspiring any amount of design details that we take for granted.

The casual and comfortable nature of the polo coat became quickly adopted, and sometimes adapted, to become a very wearable alternative to a more formal King coat or Chesterfield.

The polo coat became the louche alternative to a formal overcoat and when Giorgio Armani was putting together the wardrobe for American Gigolo, he could do no better than clad Richard Gere in his interpretation.

The keen-eyed among you may have noticed the salient points of the above polo coat: Unstructured, belt tie, patch pockets, great cloth. And that’s about it. No extra fandangling with bells nor whistles. Very similar, in fact, to our gowns!

The similarity in the styling the polo coat to our gowns, as well as the sentiment of them being louche and comfortable, made them the ideal Outer Gown.

As ever, we start out product development with cloth. We considered the oft-seen camel polo coat but decided against it. Such a cloth can look great, but does show up marks and stains so we felt, on balance, that an easier to wear cloth would be best. The brown glen check we picked has a terrific weight to it and a wonderful drape. It’s also not at all precious like a camel or cashmere coat might be. With our Outer Gown, you don’t have to worry too much about how you’re wearing it; just get out there and enjoy your day.