Camel coats can be an ‘unsung hero’ of the closet

A camel-colored coat may sound bland, but it could be just the thing to spice up a cool-weather wardrobe.

While a camel coat makes a classic chic statement, the style is malleable enough to be either a trendy boyfriend jacket or traditional trench. Its place in fashion history, on the backs of Katharine Hepburn and Grace Kelly, and Ali McGraw and Kate Moss, gives it a solid pedigree, and the color - a range of shades between tobacco and fawn - has a richness to it that, quite frankly, makes you look rich.

"Camel looks indulgent like winter white but has the pragmatism of gray and black. It's the best of both worlds. . . . A camel coat evokes throwaway glamour," says Michael Kors, who for many seasons has used camel as a core of his fall collections.

You can wear camel with any color in your wardrobe, including black, which makes a camel coat a good investment piece, but one that you don't have to spend a fortune on, says Stephanie Solomon, fashion director of Bloomingdale's. She says she owns three styles - a zip-front, a peacoat and belted version - and she's had each for at least 20 years. They come out of the closet every time she wears the black pants, black shirt, black heels combo.

Kors suggests pairing camel with white or bold brights such as red or orange; stylist Mary Alice Stephenson recommends it with one of the season's other trends, a neon color such as hot pink or electric blue.

Nicole Fischelis, Macy's vice president of ready-to-wear fashion, says the contrast color doesn't really matter because what most complements a camel coat are brown leather accessories - the belt, the boot, the bag. She likes a little animal print thrown into the mix, too.

Camel coats aren't always camel-hair coats, but that's the garment that really made its mark in the middle of the 20th century as a sign of sophisticated taste. Camel hair is from the soft undercoat of the camel, with a similar feeling to cashmere and alpaca, explains Marlene Middlemiss, fashion design instructor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Over time, some manufacturers started mixing camel hair with wool as a cost-cutting measure.

"Camel works in everything from dyed wool to cashmere or camel hair. It looks best in fabrics with texture, and what fabric you choose depends on your wallet, climate, and the shape of your garment," Kors says.

Camel coats have long been associated with menswear styles, Middlemiss notes, even when the coats are women's silhouettes.

That said, erase from your mind anything stuffy or dowdy, Stephenson says. "The idea of a camel coat used to be a 50-year-old's coat who'd been 'blahed out.' It fell into those boring 'classics,' but that has all been turned upside down now. . . . The camel coat has become fun to wear."

If you haven't tried one on because you think it doesn't match your personal style, Stephenson takes a bet that you haven't test-driven a camel kimono coat, or a peacoat, or a cozy wrap.

"A camel coat is an unsung hero," she says. "You don't hear that much about it, but it's actually a really smart buy."