Style & Advice
The Chesterfield coat: the classic overcoat for tailoring
- Written by
- The Roomten tailors
- Published
- 2026-02-20
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-01
- Reading time
- 3 min
- overcoats
- chesterfield
- crombie
- made to measure overcoats
In short
A Chesterfield is a formal, knee-length overcoat cut to be worn over a suit jacket, usually with a fly (concealed) front and often a contrasting velvet collar. It is made single or double breasted in heavy wool, typically 400–560 g/m².
The Chesterfield is the classic businessman's coat: made to wear over your jacket, tie and shirt rather than over knitwear alone. Every working wardrobe built on tailoring should have one.
Versions we make regularly
- Single breasted with a concealed button front — the plainest and most formal version.
- Grey Chesterfield in 560 g/m² water-repellent wool from Vitale Barberis, with a black velvet collar.
- Double breasted in a navy 80% wool, 20% alpaca cloth from Leichtfried, 540 g/m².
- Tweed Chesterfield in a 410 g/m² luxury tweed from Di Pray, with a navy velvet collar.
Getting the cut right
An overcoat has to be measured over tailoring, not over a shirt, or it will pull across the back and shoulders. Length is the other decision: on or just below the knee is the traditional Chesterfield line, and shorter reads as a covert coat rather than a Chesterfield.