These Are The New Classic Topcoats, According To Londoners

Street style is all about the flashy, the eye-catching, and, above all, the surprising. Yet come Fashion Month, there are certain things we can expect from every style capital. New York has the incredibly impractical but oh-so-covetable footwear. Paris has its stripes. Milan has its fiery reds. And London has the trench coat — at least, that's what we like to think. We picture fashionable Brits strolling around Mayfair, wrapped in their honey-hued Burberry trenches, playing through the incessant rain. But while this undeniably stylish topper remains a staple for many, the outerwear landscape is quite more varied across the pond.

We can trace the rise of the trench coat back to World War I, although the style has been around since the 1850s. (Burberry was founded in 1856.) In the century-and-a-half since, it's gone from military uniform to off-duty mainstay for many style icons, from Audrey Hepburn to Kate Moss. The ease and timelessness of the silhouette, paired with its water-resistant capabilities, make it a solid go-to year after year — but, this isn't unique to Brits. Nowadays, you're as likely to spot as many (if not more) colorful faux fur coats and MA1-style bomber jackets on the streets of London, debunking this myth that every single British person owns a trench.

So, we asked six Londoners to tell us about their staple jackets, and why they think they're new classics. From trench coat and beyond, click ahead to find out what coats the Brits can't get enough of — just in time to get the ball rolling on fall shopping.