I wouldn't call myself very fashionable, though I do enjoy clothes. My own clothes, those of my wife La Hoff - I love shopping with her - and especially, other people's clothes. Men's winter coats are a category all their own. (listening link)
Especially the leather jacket. If you are a woman, or a man who has never owned a leather winter coat, then you will never know how that jacket feels. Blissfully predictable, as cozy as a womb.
This feeling is so strong that I still miss the leather jacket I had and wore out completely from my seventeenth well into my twenties. That leather starts to work and conform to your body, it molds to your shoulders, chest, and elbow like a warm woman in bed.
Carelessly, this category of men grab the jacket from the coat rack and put it on, always in the same way, and then adjust the inside for the perfect fit.
On the street, you'll see it if you know what to look for. Many of these jackets are dated, weathered, and some are even peeling. The man inside pretends not to notice and wears the jacket nonchalantly yet with pride. Getting rid of the jacket would cause a loss as great as a crater.
My neighbor (estimated age 114) also has such a winter coat, although it's made of fabric. Its color was once burgundy, now dull red. You can tell that man cherishes that coat for everything it is. The fit, the pockets, the predictability. Every year, the dull red coat is put on again. As soon as my neighbor replaces that coat, I'll declare a period of national mourning.
Of course, I also own the necessity that every man should have: the short leather jacket, à la Fonzie. Mine is for "just right, not quite cold" weather. In short, 80% of Dutch weather. We're in December, so the jacket is actually too cold. But oh well. It's so inhumanly comfortable. Fortunately, there's a solution.
For a side project that I went 110% for at least 14 days… I wanted to make Andy the Dandy clothes, patches on existing army clothing. Because army clothing is widely available, indestructible, and let's be honest, just delightful. We awaken the child within.
Through VINTED, I bought an insane, amazing army parka full of secret pockets, mysterious zippers, and incomprehensible cords. Waterproof, with a high collar that Karl Lagerfeld would be jealous of, and windproof. Suddenly, I decided to wear the parka over my leather jacket. Oh people, the joy of the extended wear time.
You can spend hours looking at coats and kissing the man, the greatest creature of habit on this planet, for that wonderful predictability. The attentive reader will have understood by now that suddenly getting rid of such a coat, or suggesting buying a new one, is a greater sin than the omerta. A man would rather die than give up a coat that could last another year.