My Coat of Many Colors - Beams Plus Patchwork Balmacaan

My Beams Plus Corduroy Patchwork Coat

Even though this year has seen work-from-home loungewear thrust center stage, I'd still argue that nothing is more exciting than a good piece of outerwear - and certainly not sweatpants or slippers. For years, I've been quietly obsessed with one coat in particular: Beams Plus x Harris Tweed's collaboration patchwork balmacaan, originally released in 2015 in both grey and brown versions for their Fall/Winter collection. This was perhaps worn most famously by Greg Lellouche of No Man Walks Alone, whose fit pics I distinctly remember figuratively grabbing me by the shoulders and shouting "you have to own this." Ever since, Beams has released some sort of patchwork coat just about every following fall season, to be fair, though none of them have come even close to as good as 2015's. This year, however, Beams has two absolute bangers on their hands - one in the form of what I consider to be their first truly successful follow-up - a lighter, longer coat in printed corduroy cotton, and the other, the second coming of the fabled FW2015 patchwork coat in grey.

Beams Plus x Harris Tweed 2015 Patchwork Coat

Greg Lellouche wearing 2015 Beams Plus Patchwork Balmacaan

When I came across the 2015 re-release a few weeks ago, I thought I had stumbled upon an archived Japanese page or a deja vu moment in the Matrix. Pete Zottolo (@urbancomposition), though, kindly provided the backstory discussing the coat on Styleforum; Beams agreed to re-run the piece in its entirely when Bruce Pask, mens fashion director at Bergdorf Goodman, asked Beams to re-run it this year as it's his all-time favorite coat. I don't think I've ever seen Beams remake a piece before, so for them to do it on such an amazing coat is even more special. Yes, there's no brown version, but at this point it would be a bit like complaining there's no steak to go along with your lobster, after thinking both steak and lobster had gone extinct five years ago.

Unfortunately, stock is extremely limited, sold out at Bergdorf at the time of this post, but can still be found through proxy in Japan. Otherwise, you're stuck trawling Yahoo Japan auctions, and, if you're a medium, you'll have to beat me to get it. I'll note that, with COVID disruptions being what they are, shipping prices are also more limited and more expensive than they've been in the past. 

Beams FW2020 Corduroy Patchwork Coat

I think the Beams FW2020 cotton corduroy coat offers a great alternative, however, especially if you're looking for something with longer length and slightly wider availability. If I had one knock against the 2015 bal, it would be that it's too short. Aside from getting into cars, a longer coat in this style just looks better, drapes better, and is more practical in my opinion. The present corduroy bal is a rich warm mix of tonal browns (there's a grey version of this one as well), the fabric feels luxuriously textured, and it falls farther down the leg, lending a fantastic dramatic flow and line to the garment. This is the coat I ended up buying. I wore it to the mall a couple weeks ago, and I've never had so many people stop me to tell me they loved something I was wearing before. A couple employees even asked me to write it down for them. I was honestly surprised because I didn't think many people liked this sort of thing, even among general menswear enthusiasts, so it's always cool when people are vibing with things you're into.

Some things I should note - the 2020 corduroy bal isn't wool, so it won't wear as warm, the patchwork is actually a print and not actual patches sewn together, and it really comes down to personal preference if you like the repeating identical scale of the corduroy coat as much as the variable patchwork size of the 2015 version. For me, I'd put the brown 2015 balmacaan at #1, followed closely by my cotton corduroy coat, with the grey 2015 version at #3. It's splitting hairs, though, really. You can find the cotton balmacaan in grey and brown at Totem Brand, a local Philly shop (they have been having 10-15% off sales recently and this Black Friday weekend 25% off!), Fred Segal, and Ssense in limited stock and sizing. I really like the matching pants as well, though I have a soft personal rule against head-to-toe brand looks. My sizing advice is to go up one from your US size for Beams, so I wear a size medium for the fit you see below.

If you like the look but want to look outside Beams, you can find plenty of other patchwork options at brands like Engineered Garments, Needles, and Bode. This Polo RL coat Derek from Die, Workwear! found just might be the best of the bunch - elegant patterning, great detailing, a longer length, and an incredible silhouette. Stock is nonexistent, though, and the price makes me want to vomit. I can only imagine how good I'd look and feel with it on, sitting on my couch in sweats and slippers.

Here's to better times outside soon.

 

 

 

It me.