It’s a nice irony that, for all fashion’s elite associations, some of its most enduring styles come from firmly proletarian stock – none more so than jackets. Put it this way: if this season’s coat-of-your-dreams doesn’t have its roots in military uniform, you can almost certainly trace its ancestry back to the world of manual labour.
Menswear’s growing obsession with salt-of-the-earth workwear means that the humble work jacket has become a suitably industrious cornerstone of the modern male wardrobe. Many styles echo the classic chore coat, which itself derives from traditional French work jackets, with three patch pockets on a tough but lightweight construction (think twill, denim, corduroy or cotton).