In the 2000s, everyone owned a duffel coat, like Alexa Chung, Taylor Swift, and Hailey Baldwin before she was a Bieber. A duffel coat is characterised by its toggle closures, and was originally worn by British sailors before the A-list got their hands on them. But since the duffel coat’s major moment as a must-have, it faded into obscurity a bit. The coat hasn’t really been in the fashion zeitgeist for over a decade, and certainly hasn’t been spotted on that many celebrities or runways. That is, until very recently.
We should have assumed this would happen after the coolest girl in the world turned coolest mom in the world, Chloë Sevigny, wore a plaid duffle coat to the Marc Jacobs show in New York last February. It was a sign that the coat would be back. But because Sevigny is always light years ahead of the rest of us, it wasn’t until recently that the coat seems to have seriously trickled onto the runways.
Alexa Chung at NYFW in February 2010.
Taylor Swift wearing a duffel coat in London in November 2010.
Hailey Bieber in Manhattan wearing a duffel coat in January 2016.
