The New Casual Jacket – The “Bombacuta”

BR tipped collar military jacket – $150.00 | Ben Sherman Winchester – $149.00

Spring is on the way and that’s not a good thing for those of us who really love our winter coat.  The heavy wool winter topcoat you wore with your suit as well as with your jeans and beat up boots is about to be exiled to storage for the next seven months. For spring, summer, and much of fall, when you reach for an outer layer your decision just won’t be as easy.  One coat won’t do it all.

Wear a stylish trench on a walk around the neighborhood and you’ll be trying to hard.  Try and pass off a regular jacket with a suit and you’ll look like a dope.  The three seasons that don’t end in “-inter” call for two types of jackets.  Formal (see the trench) and casual.  Which is what these two are here.

These hybrids are popping up all over the place.  Not quite baracuta jackets, and they aren’t quite bombers either. Closer at the sides but still short, both have bold stripe accents, epaulets, and the baracuta styled button/snap mock collars.

The Banana Republic Jacket looks better in person and it does have a pretty thick lining.  BananaRepublic.com claims the lining is removable, BUT… a reviewer on the site says it’s not.  A quick call to customer service was inconclusive.  The rep was nice, but she couldn’t tell me if the description was accurate or not.  If anyone has one or has seen one, leave a comment below and we’ll try our best to get back out to our local BR store to give it a good once over.

If you can remove the lining, we’d say it beats out the Ben Sherman jacket.  But no removable lining would make it a bit warm for those nights you just barely need a jacket.

Not cheap but not insanely expensive, both will set you back around $150.