Fashion Details:
Hello Friends! Chilly temps are here to stay! Last year I posted about the ultimate winter coat that I bought and love to death. I’m including the original post below because they are still selling the coat and it might be one of my best purchases ever. This year is a little different though as I’m 7 months pregnant right now and it’s cold out! There was no way I was going to drop $300+ on a warm winter coat for a couple months when I have a perfectly good one at home.
I set out to figure out how to turn my non-maternity ultimate winter coat into a maternity winter coat. 🙂 I did it earlier this year with my work clothes (you can check out my non-maternity, maternity office wear posts here and here) so I was up for the challenge.
Keeping my budget in mind I had originally bought a couple true maternity coats for $50, but you really get what you pay for. The coats were horrible and the colors ended up rubbing off on everything. It was so sad. But that’s when I turned to regular coats that I could make work for my growing bump. A simple wrap coat will actually double as a maternity coat. Its technically adjustable because there is no button or zipper closure. You can pull it as tight or as loose and you want and tie it with a bow. I picked up this wrap coat earlier this year and wore it during the fall and on warmer winter days. You can also wear it when not pregnant, so if you get one you love you will have it for years! My top 10 picks for great wrap coats include these guys:
In Chicago it gets pretty cold so I still needed a super warm “puffer coat”, but had to be sure if fit the growing belly. My current 3-in-1 Marmot coat was so so warm and functional and I wanted to keep wearing it. So I did some research and found the most genius invention ever, a coat extender! It’s a brand called Zip Us In and it’s made especially for pregnant women and moms. It’s simply a shell that can be zipped in to pretty much any jacket to allow you to wear it through pregnancy. Once zipped in you can adjust the size using the bungee cords to tighten or loosen the panel.
It’s truly been a lifesaver for me this winter and hands down the best “pregnancy” purchase I’ve made. They offer a couple different sizes of the panel and two lengths to fit most coats. They just suggest you check the zipper to ensure it’s compatible, but I found most zippers are. The best part is it’s about $55 and you can’t beat the price for the functionally.
Keep reading below to find out more about the best winter coat I’ve ever purchased!
Original Post:
How many winter coats do you have? If I answer honestly, I have seven. However, I probably only wear two of them consistently. You could say I love to collect coats for any season, especially winter. It’s so easy to accidentally have seven winter coats hanging in the closet. You buy one or two each year and all of a sudden you have too many and can’t get rid of any of them because they are all your favorites. While I’m guilty of having too many coats and don’t want to part with any of them, I’m slowly realizing that I may not need all of them. I also discovered the best coat in the entire world that is actually three different coats in one. It’s the ultimate winter coat. Intrigued? Then keep reading! And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Pinterest to see this coat in action.
My two go-to winter coats have been getting replayed for years. I have my work dress coat, which is an older version of this coat. When I say older, I mean this is the fifth winter I’m wearing this thing. I love this coat. LOVE this coat! It is classic and warm and beautiful, but you can also tell that it’s getting older and isn’t as shiny and new as it once was. I also have my “puffer” coat. Living in Chicago you have to have a coat that will keep you warm in sub zero temps and looking good.
Well a couple years ago my puffer died 🙁 It got old and the zipper started to rip out of the coat. While I repaired it several times it was at the point of being un-salvageable. To be honest, I was never in love with my puffer coat, but one winter it was below 25 degrees for many days and I needed to have a heavy coat to keep warm. For those cold days, it was my ultimate winter coat. But that didn’t last.
In general, finding a good coat is hard to do. I can be fussy. But I like to say that “I know what I want and won’t stop till I find it.” For starters, I view a coat as an investment and not just a piece of clothing. I don’t mind spending a little bit more money if I find something I truly love. When I truly love a coat (or any clothing piece) I take better care of it, which lengthens the life of the item. I’m also proud to wear the coat and carry myself a little taller and prouder when I wear it. So when my my puffer died I had to get another heavy and warm coat. But as always, I want to truly love the new coat, not just like it.
How did I go about finding the ultimate winter coat to replace my puffer? By doing what I do best. I made a list of what I wanted in the coat and got to work. I also did some random sampling for opinions and asked co-workers, the girl on the bus, and my friends what they wore for warm winter coats. The responses were a bit all over the place. Everyone is different and their idea of “warm” might not be my idea of warm. And lets face it, I can go from freezing to sweating in 3 seconds flat so I’m pretty unique.
The research was split, about half said that Canada Goose was their go-to puffer jacket. While I did the research on the jacket and brand to better understand their temperature rating and warmth of their coats, I couldn’t choke down the $900+ price tag for a coat. I know they are warm, but that’s a lot of money! And let’s get serious. I won’t even coat-check my $60 JCPenney coat in fear of it being stolen so I was never going to coat-check a Canada Goose jacket.
Some other response I received from my research was Marmot and to be honest, I never heard of them before. It’s a true outdoors company like a Patagonia, REI and North Face. They focus on functional pieces for outdoor wear and offer a lot of options, but I was instantly drawn to one coat in particular. It’s the Downtown Component Jacket and it was love at first site! This coat has everything I was looking for and more. It was the ultimate winter coat! Here are my top ten reasons why I love it:
- Warmth without the puffer look – it has a smooth exterior and a detachable hood
- Minimized logo (I’m not a huge fan of logos on my clothing)
- Longer in length so it covers my rear end
- Two-way zipper that corrects itself when you sit down. No more zippers ripping out of the seam!
- Hidden zipper closure – I’m not a huge fan of exposed zippers on coats
- Defined waist – I had a shape in this jacket and didn’t feel like a stuffed sausage
- Magnetic closures on the zipper and sleeve. While I wasn’t looking for it, its a great feature that allows the coat to easily adjust to whatever you are doing. Sitting or standing it breaks away and re-attaches to keep the coat looking put together.
- Super Warm – I wore this in the last cold blast in Chicago (I’m talking like -10 degrees) and was warm to the core.
- Spot on sizing – it runs true to size and I’m wearing a medium
- And the best part…3 coats in 1! It has a zip out shell that can be worn alone on warmer winter days. The lightweight outer shell can be warm in the spring or fall and also used as a raincoat with the hood.
This ultimate winter coat coat has it all and also a much more budget friendly price tag. I’m in love, maybe even more in love them my J.Crew Jacket. The best part is I’ve been wearing this coat all over town; to work, to and from Pure Barre, and even out on date night! Mike gets a big kick out of it because three years ago I would never wear a “puffer” out on a date night, but now I’m all in! He can’t laugh that hard though, he just went out and got a 3-in-1 Component Coat too. Don’t worry I helped with the research on his too.
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