I love coats. A simple statement but it’s true. Coats, bags and shoes. Living in the country that we do some form of outwear is necessary practically everyday of the year. Zara is probably one of my favourite places to shop for coats. I find the quality is good although the sleeve size can be hit and miss, often I find myself having trouble bending my arm as the material is too tight. Other than that I find local boutiques are the best place to find really fabulous statement coats that you can be sure you won’t spot on many other people. I don’t tend to ‘save’ my dressy coats really, I have one cream coat from Zara that I keep for weddings, it goes with everything and let’s face it cream is totally impractical to wear on a daily basis if you have two small people in the house that like yoghurt and jam. The blue coat above is probably the fanciest coat I own, it’s so glamorous and I adore it and get so much wear out of it. Coats are fairly timeless when it comes to the seasons so my top tip for getting the best value is to shop in the sales. I got the blue coat in Vanilla in the sale reduced from €250 to €120, a total bargain for such an unusual and unique piece. I love the cropped sleeve too, being tall sleeves are often short on me anyway but this one is perfect because it’s supposed to be cropped and you can add a cardigan during the Winter for some warmth. The blue cape and the purple floral coat were shot recently as part of my shoot with Emer of Irish Fashaholic and are both from Vanilla Boutique in Fermoy, Co. Cork. The floral coat was lighter than you’d expect so a perfect Spring Summer coat but one with a bit of length, I prefer this length personally and always find it hard to find a summery version that isn’t too heavy.


The blue cape I loved, I have a black cape myself and it’s so handy whatever the season. The blue floral coat on Pam from Pamslivelovefashion blog is also Vanilla and I strongly urge you to head right over to her website to read all about Vanilla and to see some other pieces from the shop too that we shot together. 

And while I can only just send you over to Vanilla’s Facebook page to see what stock they have at the moment below are some interesting and pretty coats I found online that are either on sale or just a bit different!