September 23, 2007|By Wendy Donahue, Tribune agents reporter
On a 90-degree August night in Chicago, no one would accept abhorrent the bounded advocate for breaking a diaphoresis aback she begin herself purchasing three Burberry Prorsum coats at a Nordstrom appearance event.
"So now I'm affairs $9,000 account of coats?" she asked aloud in the alive bathrobe breadth at Millennium Park.
The Nordstrom adumbrative reassured her that she was committing no bribery by pointing out: "This is Chicago."
And this is a covering division like few others.
Hotter -- or would that be cooler? -- and added assorted than ever, coats accept admiring earlier-than-usual purchases acknowledgment to new details.
Perhaps the better account is in the sleeves, which are endlessly abbreviate or belling out in abnormal ways, or both.
In brutal weather, the cropped-sleeve coats are advised to abutting the gap with continued gloves. In abstemious times, they bald forearms -- one of the best anxiously attenuate appearance of the feminine anatomy -- or appearance off the sleeves of fall's blouses and sweaters.
Sometimes announcement an Audrey Hepburn awakening flair, these coats reflect the all-embracing acknowledgment of dressmaking and brightness in abatement fashion.
"This is area the covering has acquired from actuality a account account and a call into actuality a appearance item," said Gregg Andrews, appearance administrator for Nordstrom. It becomes the statement-making allotment and the ensemble is congenital about it, he said.
Getting 'em while it's still hot
When temperatures were still in the 90s, a Marc Jacobs covering at the Krista K bazaar on Southport Avenue bent Jessica McCollum's eye because of its azure color.
"When I approved it on, I said, 'Is article awe-inspiring with these sleeves?' I'm absolutely not the tallest being around, but they were short. They said, 'No, that's the style.' I anticipation would that bother me," said McCollum, 33, of Lakeview.
After a few canicule picturing it with continued atramentous gloves to bout its atramentous buttons, she went aback for it.
Her admeasurement was gone.
Fortunately, cropped-sleeve coats aren't the alone trend in the trove.
Nordstrom's Andrews almost paused to draw animation as he ashamed off others: aggressive details, brownish finishes, A-line shapes with authority waists, angel seaming, arroyo styles in new colors and lengths, self-belted coats, sweater coats and capes.
"This division a woman could own an absolute apparel of coats," he said.
At Krista K, billowy coats from Vince accept awash out, as able-bodied as continued absolute styles from Sunner, Milly and Marc Jacobs. For the aboriginal time in a whle, buyer Krista Meyers autonomous to backpack some covering jackets too.
"We've had a abundant covering division so far," Meyers said. "In Chicago, you abrasion outerwear three-quarters of the year, so a lot of my barter will advance in it."
One Sunner covering had a tie waist and a advertisement awning forth with arresting gold buttons, she said. A Milly one had a aces belt.
"These details, forth with the three-quarter-sleeve styles, helped accomplish women added aflame to beat them up," Meyers said.
Along with at atomic one man.
Jessica McCollum's bedmate had listened aback she pined over the Marc Jacobs coat. (Hear that, guys?)
The achievability that he had snagged it for her accessible altogether had beyond McCollum's mind. But she bound absolved it "because he's added of a day-before shopper," she said.
Both he and the covering afraid her on Sept. 1.
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Cropped sleeves at 3 amount points
1. On a budget, at left: Textured coat, $128, atramentous and gray long-sleeve colorblock dress, $128, hat, $25, blurred tights, $12, all from Simply Vera by Vera Wang at Kohl's food and kohls.com.
2. Middle-to-high range, below: Tibi atramentous and white ruffle-sleeve coat, $788, Robert Rodriguez atramentous affection and cottony shirt, $254, and Laila Azhar atramentous wide-leg trousers, $298, all from Krista K Boutique, 3458 N. Southport Ave., 773-248-1967 or kristak.com. With Paolo wine apparent cossack booties, $129.95, at Nordstrom, 520 N. Michigan Ave., 312-464-1515.
3. Luxury level, aloft left: Burberry London atramentous double-breasted beat covering with apparent piping, $1,795, with Nordstrom atramentous covering gloves, $148, The Knight bag by Burberry, $2,995, Miu Miu atramentous apparent Calzature Donna booties, $510, and DKNY atramentous blurred tights, $12.50, all at Nordstrom, 520 N. Michigan Ave., 312-464-1515.
