Publish date:: Mar 7, 2017

7 New Ways to Style a Jacket, Courtesy of A.P.C.

We could have headlined this, "7 Ways to Wear Your Jacket Like a French Girl," but we didn't.

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One of the biggest street-style crazes of the past few years has involved not a specific designer item, but rather a manner of styling one's outerwear. It all began with the "editor's cape," i.e. refusing to put one's arms in one's jacket sleeves, which we first identified as an industry-insider trend back in 2010. That was followed by the slouched, off-the-shoulder coat styling trick, which began to take off in the streets about a year ago. So, what's next?

Well, the staple French brand A.P.C. has some ideas — several, in fact. At its Fall 2017 show in Paris, which marked the first time the company was granted an official spot on the Paris Fashion Week calendar by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, held at its headquarters on Rue Madame, the brand seemed set on styling outerwear in as many different ways as possible. Designer and founder Jean Touitou began the show with a brief introduction in which he explained the "melancholy indifference" he sometimes feels about fashion. "I just can't ignore reality, you can't be dreaming all the time," he said. He used this show, which falls on A.P.C.'s 30th anniversary, to focus on the "resident" pieces you can always find at an A.P.C. store, but he stressed that he "would not have dared to have schlepped you all the way from home to show you something boring."

Let's take a look, shall we?

The Trench-Coat-as-Skirt

Have you ever been wearing a trench coat and wished you were only wearing the bottom half? Easy.

The Belted Canadian Tuxedo

This involves keeping your denim jacket totally closed and belting it at the waist. It actually looks pretty chic.

The Denim-Over-Khaki Cape

This is the one I'm most interested in trying, but least confident in my ability to pull off. The jacket is worn cape-style over another jacket, but buttoned at the neck for security, the sleeves are tied in the back for minimized sleeve-flapping and the jacket is positioned towards one side. It shouldn't work, but it just looks so cool.

The Fur-Coat-as-Scarf

This has a similar shoulder left-shoulder-over-the-coat positioning as the above, but the "cape" is secured by the sleeves and has more of a scarf vibe thanks to the cozy material. It looks warm.

The Fancy Superhero Cape

At first glance, this might seem identical to the Editor's Cape, but there are a couple of key differences: The coat is buttoned at the neck and kept entirely behind the shoulders. In other words, it's styled like an actual (but much chicer) superhero cape.

The Classic Denim Cape

A solution for when your dress has too many ruffles to fit inside a denim jacket the normal way. Again, note the top button.

The Reversal

This one might be the most challenging to pull off, if only because it requires getting a friend or significant other to button your denim jacket from behind.