Rust brocade zip jacket with a tiered pleated skirt

The jacket is rust brocade, a dense floral weave in tone on tone, cut like a biker jacket with an off-centre zip, a black leather collar, black leather pocket flaps at the hip and a sharp shoulder; it ends just below the hip in a curved hem. The skirt is the same rust in crinkled, knife-pleated taffeta, three tiers deep, shorter at the front and dropping longer behind. A black top-handle bag in grained leather finishes it.

It is a travel look that does not look like one: the brocade reads as a coat from a distance, the pleats move like a dress, and the bag carries everything. Flat boots or a low block heel for the concourse; a black opaque under the tiers once the cold comes. Autumn first, then winter under a long black coat.

I was not late. The board was early.