Solving the Coat Conundrum: Attempt One

I'm in a coat conundrum. As I elaborated on earlier this week, I'm addicted to parkas, and my puffy puffy puffy parka named Malakai has become a literal security blanket for me since I bought it last winter. Malakai is too overzealous for New York City fall temperatures, and its younger cousin, an unnamed cotton fur-lined parka, is temporarily out of the tri-state area as I left it at my beach house, where it is deeming itself completely useless in a moth-ball infested closet.

The absence of Malakai's cousin isn't why I'm in a coat conundrum though. I mistakingly and very consciously purchased three versions of the same parka-style coat, and now I'm at a complete loss when it comes time to wear something remotely professional. I'm no longer a college student, I am a woman, hear me roar, and I have important and mature places to be. Jk, I don't, but I could still use a f-f-fancy structured coat.

My first option is a wool trench coat à la Kate Middleton. When a laday wears a trench coat, she immediately looks like she has places to be, people to see, royals to marry. The belt is the key element to the trench coat's wearability: one can properly hoop it through the loops (huh?) to look polished, or casually knot it around the waist to advertise her "I'm so busy, I didn't even have time to fasten my trench" attitude towards life.

Like a true Asian tourist, my first choice for a wool trench coat would be from Burberry. Not much to say on it, other than it's awesome and I need it. I just got paid today (direct deposit, ince ince) and I most defintely need a supplementary income to finance a Burberry wool trench. J.Crew offers two similar wool trenches at more than half the price of Burberry's. The first one, the Icon trench, is a little long even though I consider myself to be on the tall side of things. I'm partial to the second one, which is long enough to still cover my butt (I hate a clothed yet exposed bottom shelf in the winter), but still has trench-like qualities. The downside of this coat is that it comes in colors like 'frosted citrus' and 'deep artichoke,' rather than a simple black. It does come in a camel color, but I've already committed to seeing 2013 out in black, white, and grey, not beige. Jenna Lyons, give me something to work with, g.