Everything worth knowing about Mother Overalls is below, starting with the part that changes what you buy. Check the shoulder seam first; a coat that pulls there will never sit right. A coat you cannot layer a knit under is a coat for one month of the year. Weight matters more than fill number; a heavy coat gets left at home. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What decides this is shell fabric, lining and where the hem lands. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: mmlafleur.com's Frankie Jacket - Everyday Crepe with Topstitch :: Black at $529, and Princess Polly's Shoreline Windbreaker Jacket Grey at $89. The first is the considered buy; the second is the one to start with. A coat you cannot layer a knit under is a coat for one month of the year. Weight matters more than fill number; a heavy coat gets left at home. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

Buy the coat for the clothes you own, not the clothes you plan to buy. From the second group, agjeans.com's Jo Jacket ($427) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, coats and jackets, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

There are 20 coats and jackets here from 16 brands, $89 to $1280, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. Princess Polly's Shoreline Windbreaker Jacket Grey at $89 is the low-risk way in, and nililotan.com's MARCUS ANORAK JACKET at $1280 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. Read as a set, they get you close to Mother Overalls without any single purchase being compulsory. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: pay for the thing that touches your body and economise on the thing that sits on top of it.