Real stories · One coat, both jobs

Warm coats made me look done-in, smart coats left me cold — this one does both jobs

Warm enough for a frosty morning, smart enough for anywhere — that's what I wanted from one coat. I'm 67, and for years my hallway held two: the padded practical one, which kept me warm and made me look like I'd given up, and the smart one, which looked lovely and let the cold straight in. Every single morning began with choosing which way to lose.

What I wanted was one coat that refused to choose.

Then I found the Loravinne from a British label called York Boutique — a single-breasted coat in the softest camel-brown, with a proper lapel collar, neat buttons, two patch pockets and a tidy mid-thigh length.

The trick is in the fabric and the cut together. The pile is dense and plush — it traps the warmth the way padding does, but without the bulk — while the single-breasted line and the lapel do what a tailored coat does, which is why it keeps up with the frost and still looks right walking into anywhere. It feels, honestly, like wearing a very well-behaved teddy bear.

Plush enough to trap the warmth, tailored enough for the lapel to do the talking — which is why one coat now does both jobs.

At £44.95 — half the usual £90 — it cost less than either of the two coats it replaced.

It has since done the frosty morning rounds, the café with Sandra — who stroked the sleeve and asked if it was 'terribly dear', and enjoyed the answer — and one parents'-evening-style church do at which nobody guessed it was the same coat from the dog walk. I did check before ordering that I could send it back if it didn't suit — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free.

If your hallway also holds a warm coat and a smart coat and no coat that's both, do have a look. The Loravinne is rated 4.8 out of 5 by more than 410 women, it comes in eight colours, in UK sizes 8/10 all the way to 22/24 — and the camel goes first.