From looking at old pictures or paintings, it would appear that back in the old days virtually all winter coats were knee length. Nowadays, those seem to be the minority, and most coats seem to be slightly below waist length. And - more significantly - ISTM that the longer coats these days are for the most part designed and worn for style purposes, to affect a more formal/elegant look, and that people who are focused on warmth are for the most part not particular focused on getting enough length. Question is why that changed - I assume people’s physiology didn’t change.
My own hypothesis is that it has to do with the relative prevalence of walking vs car transportation. When a person walks somewhere, they are out in the cold longer, making heat preservation of paramount importance, while the extra length of coat is not much of a hindrance. Conversely, when traveling by car, the extra length tends to get in the way, especially when getting in and out of the car, while heat preservation is not quite as important since the car itself is heated. As a result, in a lifestyle where people routinely walked a lot the balance of factors would tend to favor longer coats, while in a lifestyle where people mostly travel by car the balance of factors would tend to favor shorter coats.
[Note: when I talk about walking I’m referring to walking for the purpose of getting from Point A to Point B, and not walking for exercise, as the latter is done at a faster pace, where the walker tends to get warmed up and also needs more flexibility.]
My wife suggested that perhaps these days the fabrics used for coats are better insulating, and when the upper body is warmer, the lower body doesn’t need as much insulation.
I wear a hoodie unless it drops below Zero Fahrenheit. My vehicle is in a heated garage at home. I drive to work and park ten yards from the door. Pumping gas sucks, but I deal with it. My gf has it even easier; heated garage at home to indoor parking at work.
What I absotively hate is dealing with a coat when I walk into a bar/restaurant/store. I’d rather be cold for the minutes I spend outside in my hoodie than to have to deal with a parka at a bar.
I agree with the car hypothesis. I have a shorter coat that I wear when I’m driving somewhere, and a longer, warmer one that I wear if I am walking somewhere. I also wear the longer one if I am taking a bus or a train, as that still entails a lot of outside time (elevated train platforms!) and I generally don’t sit down once I’m aboard.
I’m not sure myself. As an avid wearer of a knee-length coat, I like it because it looks great, and is not as fussy to put on as an equally-old modern winter coat whose zippers usually jam after a couple years, and mine is loose-fitting enough that if it gets really cold I can comfortably put on that other winter coat under it.
Hmm, maybe. I live in Chicago and don’t drive. I have a knee length wool top coat and a waist length puffer.
The top coat gets worn with nicer clothes and I wore it to work. The puffer is more casual, and gets worn during the awful rain/sleet/snow/ice sloppy days.
I knew I was right!!! I knew I wasn’t imagining it!!!
It is next to impossible to find a proper shin length coat these days! I went to Marshall’s. I went to Target. I went to what used to be called Burlington Freaking Coat Factory. I was prepared to pay between two and three hundred dollars. But all they had was so called coats that would leave my ass out to face the freezing winds at the bus stop.
This is Chicago, people! Not goddamn Beverly Hills! Last year, we had a polar vortex that killed three people and Jussie Smollett’s career! Sixty fucking below in the wind, and I’m supposed to be flashing my admittedly fantastic gams for all to see? Fuck no! I wanna be covered up in a coat burkha!
Bring back the long ass coats immediately, you fashion shitheads, before I go all dog day afternoon on you.
I find it more comfortable to have longer coats. Overcoats and trench coats are comfortable to wear, look professional and since the buttons are more pronounced it just looks better to have the coat longer.
The only waist length coat I have is a zipped up rain coat which has a hood.
Just get a nice wool one. Are you worried about the fashion police coming down on you? They won’t because they’ll be too busy freezing their asses off to go out when it’s 40 below. I have one I was lucky to find at a vintage store.
It is either that or—fur coats being not cool unless MAYBE you live in Siberia or Antarctica where -40 is downright cozy— I also have a soft spot for those North Face-type ultra-high-tech down jackets that keep you insanely warm although they make you look like a mountain climber.
No, I don’t worry about the fashion police. I just hate the fascist fashion police that make it impossible for me to find clothes that I like. And apparently they have decreed that long coats are out.
Those that made that decree should be pushed out to sea on an ice floe and left to die like the eskimos used to do to those people they deemed useless.
Not crazy about wool coats. I like big fluffy ones with down inside cloth. Soft cloth, not stiff plasticky vinyl-like polyester.
I want a coat like the coat I have now, but with a zipper that works, so I don’t have to hold the front closed together with my hands. I had the zipper replaced twice, and I still have to look like a homeless person wearing a blanket. All because I can’t find an acceptable replacement coat.
That’s that North Face Futurelight waterproof, breathable, soft, stretchy fabric I was talking about (with goose down inside). Pricy, but occasionally they go on sale, especially if you plan ahead.
I still have a long overcoat and a genuine trench coat in the closet, but I’ve gotten so used to wearing the shorter styles that I only use them when it’s below 0 / monsoon weather outside.
But they’re the only outerwear that looks right with a men’s suit.
Around these parts (Toronto), I associate knee-length (or longer) down coats almost exclusively with Canadians of Chinese origin. Personally, I have never minded having cold legs. The worst that happens is they get numb, rather than painful like cold hands or ears.
I have an old wool overcoat of my dad’s. It looks sharp, but it’s not convenient to hang off the back of a chair.
I think what’s missing from your analysis is the impact of the military/skiers’ parka, which became fashionable in the 1960s. I don’t think people deliberately chose shorter coats because of greater convenience when driving; I think consumers just got used to the fashion-promoted notion that an outerwear coat could be a shorter garment.
(And of course, clothing manufacturers love it when consumers accept shorter/skimpier styles for any standard garment type, because it means they can charge the price of a standard garment for a version that saves them considerable money in materials and construction.)
Back when I was office-based I spent over an hour a day walking to/from home, train station, and office. I have one of these for the rainy weather. It’s not super warm by itself but a fleece underneath makes it good enough for anything Southern England can throw at it.
I was going to go with the walking vs cars theory, in part because there is an actual garment called a car coat. But looking at that, it actually started as a “below the knee” length. The length is currently just below the hips. Come to think of it, that might just be the best length for a coat that you usually wear when in a car - long enough to cover your butt when you’re outside, but short enough to not get too much in the way when you’re in the car seat.
I can see that skiing fashion may have influenced the shortest lengths, and fashion is always going to be a consideration of “why” when it comes to clothing. However, the whole point of fashion is to change on a regular basis, so if there are long-term trends, it’s not from fashion.
This very point was on an episode of the podcast Go Fact Yourself. By definition, coats hang to below the knees and jackets hang between waist and knees.
It totally depends on where you are and how cold it gets. Here I see a minority of people who wear jackets that leave their behinds uncovered - probably because in January and February it feels like literally freezing your butt off is possible. So instead most people wear coats that are mid-thigh to knee length. Longer than that is less common.
