Mid-length, visible stitching… this trench coat is the best-selling at Claudie Pierlot this season

We loved the beige trench coat to the point of overdose. An untouchable icon, reduced to uniform by squadrons of working girls trotting from the metro to their open space. Its cinematic allure, from Catherine Deneuve to Charlotte Gainsbourg, has finally worn it out. Enter the navy blue trench coat, barely perceptible to the uninitiated but a major shift for the initiated.

The beige trench coat drags its heritage like a baggage that is too neatly stored. It has its Technicolor references, its clichés and its ready-made associations. It is Burberry , it is Audrey Hepburn in the rain, it is this automatic silhouette that reassures but no longer surprises

. Navy blue , on the other hand, breathes something else. Sharper, more elusive. It has this ability to bring rigor without austerity, elegance without stiffness. It flirts with the uniform, but without falling into military rigidity. It has that little something of British phlegm, without falling into the mothballs of hackneyed classics

. At Claudie Pierlot, the trench coat deploys a controlled volume: neither too rigid nor too loose. Its water-repellent cotton contrasts with the sometimes too precious shine of traditional gabardines. Its blue plays on a sophisticated neutrality, never boring. But above all, it has this subtle twist that makes all the difference: white stitching and large gold buttons that give it a fashionable posture. The detail that changes everything.

How to liven up the navy blue trench coat?

Don’t let it sink into literality. Forget the too-wise combo: white shirt, raw jeans, horsebit loafers. Too obvious, too first degree.

The navy blue trench coat calls for dissonance, contrast, diversion? Camel leather pants for a chromatic shock. A pastel satin skirt to soften its rigor. A paprika turtleneck to break its overly maritime DNA.

On your feet? Anything but derbies. A pair of square-toed slingbacks for angular elegance. High suede calfskin boots to amplify it. Futuristic sneakers to offset it.

Because that’s where its interest lies: a fashion choice, not a choice of conformity. More unexpected than beige, less harsh than black, the navy blue trench coat is elegance on the quiet.