A letter
The warm coat you hang by the door.
In a red brick townhouse on a quiet New York street, two friends keep the tea warm and the door open — and the coat everyone asks about hangs on the rail by the stairs.
A coat is the one thing everybody sees. It goes over the outfit you chose carefully, and most mornings it is chosen in two seconds flat — the warm one, the shapeless one, the one you would rather nobody looked at. Somewhere after fifty a lot of women quietly start dressing to disappear, and the coat by the door is usually where it begins.
I have written about women and what they wear for a long time, and that coat comes up in almost every conversation. So when women kept telling me about a small house in New York where they felt at home again — in the room itself, and in their clothes — I wanted to understand what happens behind that door.
It starts at the door. Parker & Hayes lives in a red brick townhouse on a quiet street, behind a blue-gray bay window and a blue-gray front door that is nearly always left open. “Our door is always open,” Margaret says, and she means it literally. There is a small brass plaque beside it, and the women who visit all describe the same greeting: “Come in, make yourself at home.”
Inside it is not a store. It is a home. The front room has warm wood floors, an old wooden table piled with folded knits, and daylight coming through the bay window. There is a cup of tea if you want one, and nobody rushes you. Eleanor comes down the stairs with an armful of knits; beside those stairs stands a rail of coats. Women do not arrive here as customers. They arrive as guests.
Margaret has the eye for a graceful line; Eleanor always reaches for the softest thing in the room. Their house rule settles every argument: nothing comes in unless it is elegant and comfortable. With a winter coat, they told me, that rule is the hardest of all to keep. The one that passed it hangs on the rail by the stairs — a double-breasted knit coat with cable sleeves they call the Patricia. “It is the one we both wear,” Eleanor said. I asked them what makes it different, and I am going to let their words carry it.
1Tailored, never stiff
“Wide notch lapels and a double-breasted front give it the structure of a proper coat — that part is Margaret’s doing. But the body is cut from a soft, brushed knit, so it gives as you move and drapes along your shape instead of standing away from it. And there are two deep patch pockets, sitting exactly where your hands want to go.”
2Cable sleeves with a buckled cuff
“The sleeves are knit in a raised chevron cable with a ribbed cuff and a small buckled tab at the wrist. They push up easily when you are driving, or standing at the kitchen table with your sleeves out of the way, and they give the whole coat a handmade warmth that a plain sleeve never has.”
3Room for a sweater underneath
“It is cut generously through the chest and shoulders, so a knit layers underneath without anything straining or riding up. It is seamed through the back with a gentle flare below the waist and short side slits, so nothing pulls when you sit down with your tea. If you are between sizes, take the next size up — the measurements chart on the page gives the exact width for every size, S through 3XL.”
4Three neutrals that go with everything
“Taupe, Ivory and Black. Each one reads as a true neutral against jeans, trousers and dresses alike, so the coat never dictates what you wear underneath. The Taupe is the softest of the three and the easiest to wear in daylight. This is the coat we keep on the rail by our own stairs — from the front room to lunch with friends, and straight home again.”
The Patricia, next to the usual winter coat
| The usual winter coat | The Patricia | |
|---|---|---|
| The feel | Stiff, heavy, a little armored | Soft brushed knit that gives as you move |
| The fit | Stands away from you | Drapes along your shape, with a gentle flare below the waist |
| The sleeves | Plain and flat | Raised chevron cable, ribbed cuff, a small buckled tab |
| The look | Practical, and that is all | Wide notch lapels and a double-breasted front |
| The colors and sizes | One safe dark color | Taupe, Ivory and Black · sizes S to 3XL |
Every order leaves the house the way a guest would: wrapped with care, with a little card on which Margaret writes two words. Welcome home. It sounds like a small thing. Reading what women write back, I am not sure it is.
Because not every woman can walk through that blue-gray door herself, Margaret and Eleanor have now opened it online as well. And to mark it they are holding their very first Open House, with the door wide open for a little while.
The Patricia Double-Breasted Coat
P|H - Cable Sleeve Lapel Coat for Women Patricia
$199.95$74.95Save 62%
- Soft brushed knit with a clean, tailored line
- Raised cable sleeves with a ribbed cuff and buckled tab
- Wide notch lapels, double-breasted front, two deep patch pockets
- Taupe, Ivory and Black · sizes S to 3XL
- Free shipping · 30-day returns
Open House prices, for a little while only
What I would tell you if we were friends
For years a great many of us have treated the warm coat as the one garment that does not have to be lovely. What struck me about Parker & Hayes is that they simply refuse to make you choose: an open door, a warm front room, and a coat that is kind to wear and still a pleasure to put on.
If the coat hanging by your own front door is one you would rather nobody looked at, come in and have a look at the Patricia. Take your time. Pick the color you would reach for on an ordinary Tuesday morning — the Taupe is the softest of the three in daylight. Their door is always open.
Welcome home.
Warmly,
Elizabeth Carter
- Free ShippingOn every order
- 30-Day ReturnsWithin 30 days of delivery
- Parker & HayesA townhouse shop in New York
Elizabeth Carter writes for Parker & Hayes. · Parker & Hayes, New York · Free shipping · 30-day returns.