Women's Brown Wool Military Jacket – Mandarin Collar

Wear it with dark trousers and boots most days and that combination has become my whole autumn. It also works with jeans but I prefer it the smarter way. Has quietly replaced about three other things I used to reach for.

Bought this for myself and it has spent more time in my daughters room than mine since she came home for the holidays. She is a size below me and it still works on her which says something about the cut. I have ordered a second one so that one of us can stop hiding it from the other. No complaints about anything except that.

Spent a whole Saturday walking round exhibitions where you are constantly moving between cold entrance halls and overheated rooms. Being able to undo a few buttons and carry on rather than having to take a coat off and hold it all afternoon made the day much easier. It also folds over an arm without looking like a heap when you do want it off. Small things but they are what you actually notice on a day out.

Sleeves were long on me so I had them shortened locally, which cost about fifteen and took two days. Not a complaint about the jacket exactly because I am short in the arm and this happens to me constantly. Just build it into your plans if you are ordering for a date.

Ordered it late for a birthday and it turned up the day before, which I was not counting on. Fit her straight away and she wore it out that night.

I work somewhere that expects you to look presentable but a suit would be too much. This lands in exactly the right place. Smart enough for a client to see, relaxed enough that I do not feel like I am in uniform. Has been in rotation since September.

This is cut properly rather than being a straight tube with sleeves, and you can see it in how it sits on the shoulders and comes in at the sides. It is the reason it looks more expensive than it was. The trade off is there is not much give, so if you like a relaxed fit this is not it. I knew that going in and it is exactly what I wanted.

Nine hours on a coach there and back with two nights in between, and it came off looking the same as it went on. No crease line across the back from the seat, which is the thing that usually ruins anything structured on a long journey. I wore it for the whole trip because I had not packed anything else warm and it did not let me down once. That is about as hard a test as I can give.