What to Buy This Week: Dandified Design

A serious dresser requires a serious coat. In many ways the seminal modern polo coat, championed for decades by American polo playing high-society, this iconic design from Ralph Lauren is steeped in aristocratic, dandified heritage. Cut with a clean shoulder-line, generous waisted silhouette and Ralph Lauren’s signature razor-sharp straight peaked lapels which draw the eye across the chest and towards the shoulders, the coat is finished with post-box pockets, a half-belt, pleated back and chunky turn-back cuffs. Swelled edges on the coat's lapels and seams add a suitably retro edge. It is, in other words, the real deal. Trust us when we say that there are few coats more noble, or impactful out there this season, nor many coats that have such a compelling sense of authenticity behind them. £867.00 www.ralphlauren.com

In the same breath, a beautiful coat needs some superior gloves to sit with it. These unlined butter-soft suede gloves are made in England, in colours that are exclusive to the Anderson & Sheppard haberdashery, of which this subtle elephant grey shade is particularly chic. Cut from only the finest un-split goatskins with all seams worked on the interior each glove, these are not only a classically correct pair accoutrement for urban environs (one is not supposed to wear lined gloves in town), but they pay a distinguished tonal compliment to a camel coat, or else contrast nicely with grey or navy if camel isn’t your thing. £160.00, www.anderson-sheppard.co.uk.

It has long been this magazine’s conviction that the much maligned fedora is overdue a welcome return to form and if there’s one hat that’s set to reignite a passion for rakish headgear this autumn, it’s this. In a glorious shade of caramel with a chocolate grosgrain ribbon, the ‘Bowie’ fedora from St James’s Lock & Co. is a fitting homage to the romantic, indulgent hats favoured by the Thin White Duke himself. Blocked with a tall teardrop crown and confident brim in durable and rain-friendly rabbit felt, it offers the ideal autumnal combination of luxury and practicality. Best worn at a jaunty angle with cane in hand, this is nothing less than a stature raising seasonal investment. £285.00, www.lockhatters.com.

Once you come in from your surreptitious stroll about town, and return to your cozy mahogany panelled pad in Bloomsbury or the Upper East Side, you’ll naturally want to recline with a good smoke, bell of cognac and some compelling literature. In such a frame of mind, what better garment is there to settle down in than an uncompromisingly luxurious smoking jacket? Jermyn Street’s Emma Willis has just the thing, this gloriously rich smoking gown. With it’s refined baroque feel and glorious embroidered antique paisley woollen cloth, it’s a design of Wildean proportions, hand cut and sewn in Emma Willis’s Gloucester shirtmaking workshop with handrolled self-piping. All you need is a smoking cap and you’re all set for a suitably hedonistic evening by the fire. £850.00, www.emmawillis.com.

The frankly exquisite designs of Jacquet Droz are more than worthy of the appellation of ‘dandy’ – influenced by classical watchmaking aesthetics as they are, combined with particularly elegant, rich designs. This exquisite piece, the Grande Seconde Repetition Minutes, is a case in point – a 43mm 18 carat red-gold case that is. The watch’s dial is ivory Grand Feu enamelled with 18 carat gold red applique, hands and an individual limited series number indicated on the dial. Beneath this beautiful exterior, beats the heart of a timepiece of exceptional quality. Utilizing the formidable Jacquet Droz 2635 minute repeater self-winding mechanical movement, with a 22-carat red gold oscillating weight and a 40 hour power reserve, this is a timepiece that is exceptionally elegant both within and without, well suited then to dressing the wrists of the exquisitely dressed rake-about-town. www.jaquet-droz.com.