Parkas

Parkas

The parka is the outerwear piece we reach for when the weather has stopped being ambiguous and is just being straightforwardly unpleasant. It's the honest option. It doesn't pretend to be stylish when what it's actually doing is keeping you dry and warm in genuinely grim conditions and there's something admirable about that clarity of purpose. That said there are parkas that do the practical job well and look good doing it and parkas that sacrifice everything for function and end up looking like they came from a surplus store. We prefer something with a clean silhouette even if it's longer than most outerwear. An olive or navy parka in a good quality material with a decent hood situation handles almost any British winter scenario without complaint. Keep everything underneath fairly streamlined so the bulk of the jacket doesn't compound into something that restricts how you move.