Woman in a belted camel trench dress with pleated satin side panels and black ankle boots among concrete and steel blocks

Outerwear · Spring · Autumn

Belted camel trench dress with pleated satin panels

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Beige. On purpose. A double-breasted camel cotton trench cut as a dress, a wide leather belt pulled tight, knife-pleated satin panels falling from under it. Black square-toe boots. I own one camel thing. This is it. First cold morning, no tights.

A double-breasted camel cotton trench cut as a dress, with gathered sleeves, a wide leather belt and knife-pleated satin panels falling from the waist.

The trench is camel cotton twill, double-breasted with horn buttons, storm flaps, epaulettes and a full sleeve gathered at the shoulder and again at the cuff. It is cut short, to the knee, and worn as a dress. From the waist seam, two panels of knife-pleated satin in a paler camel fall over the hips and drop to an uneven point at each side, so the classic coat has a skirt it did not ask for. A wide camel leather belt with a square buckle cinches it all. Black leather ankle boots, square-toed, with a low block heel.

One colour, head to ankle, with the boots as punctuation. It is a daytime piece for autumn or spring: the office, a long day of appointments, an airport where the coat is the outfit. In colder weather a fine black roll neck goes under it and nothing else changes. The belt stays tight; loosened, the pleats lose their point.

A trench with a skirt attached is still a trench. It just stopped apologising.