Abandoning sun-filled summer days could also be difficult for some, but for the sartorially minded, colder weather has its upsides, and chief amongst them is an excuse to pile on the outerwear.  

As WWD’s Paris buyer report recently revealed, stores can be pushing the category much more fervently this time around. From classic camel trenches and wool duffels to colourful quilted varieties, there may be one thing all of them agreed upon: it’s officially time to go long. 

Lane Crawford’s Seville Chow, Ssense’s Brigitte Chartrand and Harrods’ Simon Longland were amongst those that reported floor-length coats to be essential piece for fall 2023, highlighting those from Dries Van Noten, The Row and Sacai as their top picks. 

Joseph Altuzarra showed a number of the most luxurious options of the season at his show inside Latest York’s Public Library, which opened and closed with a succession of models clutching parkas — some in prints resembling Rorschach tests and others in embellished satin. “I had a really specific idea about silhouette — I wanted almost all the pieces to be long and have this very evening feeling,” he told WWD’s fashion market editor, Emily Mercer. “The thought with the entire end of the gathering is nearly like nature overtaking the body.” 

Altuzarra was not alone in his considering as other designers too used outerwear, not for its chief purpose of keeping warm or whilst a punctuation mark to the garments underneath, but to function the whole and total look.

Amongst them was Demna at Balenciaga, who, after months of being largely silent following controversy over the home’s promoting campaigns, returned with a show that “allotted with celebrity hoopla and his dystopian sets…to concentrate on “the art of constructing clothes,” reported WWD international editor Miles Socha. The show unfolded in three series and “Demna’s skill as a tailor and dressmaker shone through brightly in all three. Along with floor-grazing pinstripe topcoats the designer constructed from upcycled pants, there have been slick wrap-styles in snakeskin with rounded-puff shoulders that gave little idea as to what was being worn underneath.

Luckily, the models at Coperni had tights to shield them from being completely bare within the face of robotic dogs tearing their blanket-like cloaks off in yet one more viral moment. At Jil Sander, Luke and Lucie Meier showed similar oversize and elongated proportions, “as seen within the tailored double-faced coats and trousers, which the Meiers updated with zippers to expand their volumes and amplify a way of ease,” wrote Milan correspondent Sandra Saliban in her review. “Ditto for windbreakers, anoraks and pants in lightweight technical fabrics, which added to the utilitarian vibe,” she continued.  

Elsewhere, Glenn Martens experimented with shredded denim on floor-sweeping outerwear for each Diesel and Y/Project and Daniel Lee went all in on monochrome color for his debut at Burberry.