Leather bound: the trench coat has gone soft

Designers are bringing a soft touch to the utilitarian trench coat this season, reimagining the quintessential style in leather. ‘It is fascinating to work with classic shapes and see how you can develop them without losing their essence,’ says Copenhagen-based designer Freya Dalsjø. Her trench coat has a double layer with a python-skin collar peeking from a folded off-the-shoulder sleeve.

‘The detailing highlights the detail of the inner jacket,’ she says. ‘It looks like two jackets in one.’ The designer launched her eponymous label in 2012, and presents her seasonal collection’s at its now globally popular fashion week. Dalsjø studied fashion at the Royal Academy of Art in Antwerp, a school renowned for its avant-garde and eclectic approach to design.

Her aesthetic – which for A/W 2017 culminated in square shouldered pinstripe dresses, button-bulging silk shirts and fur coats – unites a Danish and a Belgian design approach. ‘Copenhagen is about easy more understandable products,’ she says. ‘Antwerp is about creating something new. I’m constantly debating how to create pieces that contain both ideas.’

Dalsjø, who has also designed technical performance wear for H20 Sportswear, says, ‘I love all the hidden smart details often found in outdoor wear’. This is an intricacy applied to a range of A/W 2017’s trench coat designs. Italian leather house Tod’s, has brought biker jacket details to its khaki trench coat. Valentino’s interpretation comes in sugary-pink lacquered leather, while Bottega Veneta has added a shinier top coat, reimagining the trench coat silhouette in glossy patent leather.

A version of this article originally appeared in the September 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*222)

INFORMATION

Shot on location at the Claudio Silvestrin-designed Cannon Lane House in Hampstead. For more information, visit the Beauchamp Estates website, Freya Dalsjø website, the Tod’s website, the Valentino website and the Bottega Veneta website