If you were designing a modern parka, today, right now, you’d have to stick the pockets in the middle like this one. To stand out, it’s not enough for a garment to have pockets positioned towards the bottom, like any standard coat, in a place the wearer can easily put their hands in, or conveniently stow their daily accoutrements. No, modern menswear insists on being quirky. It must be wearable, and thus saleable – but still different enough to warrant a robust price point. It got to look designed. Hence pockets like these. Bang in the middle of your coat. They look kind of cool. Just don’t try and put your hands in them. It’ll look like you’re doing a tasteless impression of an amputee.

This is part of Tres Bien’s own brand AW15 offering, and if you look beyond the strange elongated feel (due in no small part to the pocket positiing) there’s also interest to be found in the flecky, Italian Polyamide fabric.

It’s got a hood too. Though I often find hoods far too capacious. I don’t have a tiny head or anything, but I do sometimes wonder what scale of head modern hoods are designed for? I’ve got a brilliant Mackintosh coat with a hood that I have to fold back on itself to use. It’s a real shame. I’ve only ever seen one person that it would fit properly. He was fighting Dan Dare at the time. What do you mean, who’s Dan Dare?