House of Holland £550

I’m going to come clean and say I’ve never been a fan of the bomber jacket: I can’t stand the shapelessness, the slopey shoulders, the contrived Americana and the unnecessary shininess of it all. Just…no.

So, imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon House of Holland’s Blue Varsity Coat and was taken with its fun, almost gun-toting lipstick motif and the lime detailing in the sleeve (Lord knows I love lime). To me this coat was a vision of lengthy loveliness, and therein lay – yes, you’ve guessed it – the celebrated winter warmth factor. I have an old Superdry coat which is long and quilted, and every year without fail it gets trotted out when it’s so cold outside nothing else but a walking sleeping bag will do. Finally, this HoH version was a bomber I could get behind.

Until that is, I actually saw the actual back of the coat with its Rich Bitch scrawl. I know this theme references other pieces in Holland’s collection (like his More Taste Than Money xxx and this cool Riche Biche oversize T), but dammit Henry, I’ve now had to hang this Varsity coat back on the metaphorical mind rail under the sign that reads ‘Rejected’. Sigh. And thus the bomber eludes me for yet another season…