🟧 Chore coat shopping in Paris

Kyle buys a double-breasted Vétra jacket

Kyle Chayka: I’ve been a devotee of chore coats since I bought my first waxed canvas jacket circa 2013 from H.W. Carter & Sons on North 6th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Suede collar, lined with Pendleton fabric, very cool, on deep sale. That store eventually sold its brand, became Gentry (terrible name), and finally shut down in 2017. Over the course of a decade, the business tracked the transition of menswear from the Best Made faux-lumberjack to Vice-era expensive European woven t-shirts, then failed before the full advent of streetwear. (The storefront became the peak-2010s luxe-minimalist coffee shop Toby’s Estate, which then rebranded as Partners, and remains there.) But in all that time, the chore coat has persisted. It is heritage but also fresh; formal but also casual. You can put it on over a Brooks Brothers Oxford or a Supreme T. It doesn’t need to be branded. It has at least three large pockets, which are perfect for dog-walking accessories or jauntily carrying a croissant or even a to-go coffee cup. It is the perfect, universal item of clothing.

My closet is now full of them, mostly in blue, from Octobre and Blue Blue Japan and Le Laboureur and a Gap collab with a Japanese denim mill that I’ll never be able to replace. I’ve worn them to launch books, give talks, and attend weddings. My only problem is that they’re designed to be too durable: I have so many great ones, and they look so similar, that I don’t often need to add to the collection. But I couldn’t maintain that discipline in Paris, where my wife Jess and I just traveled on a short anniversary trip. We stayed in the Marais and mostly walked to nearby bars and restaurants. You don’t have to do much of anything to have fun in Paris, because being on the street is enough — though it does help to have dinner reservations. We stumbled into A L’O, a simple storefront selling workwear, which was founded in 1905. It’s short for A L’Ouvrier, “to the worker.” 

Vétra double-breasted work jacket

The store was the kind of destination we would have planned an afternoon around had we known of its existence, but instead it was one of those flaneurial surprises that make Paris what it is. A L’O isn’t an emporium; there are a handful of racks holding just enough pieces to browse without feeling overwhelmed. It carries 4 main brands, all early 20th century French family companies: Danton, Le Glazik, Orcival, and Vétra. If your size wasn’t on display it probably wasn’t there, though the gruff manager would take a grudging look. I tried on various options — grays, greens, dusty blacks — then narrowed my search to that characteristically bright hue of French work jackets that gives them the nickname bleu de travail, since I didn’t own a chore coat that exact color. 

Lately I’ve been thinking that the line of buttons straight down the middle of a jacket isn’t particularly flattering — the blah symmetry of a buttoned suit or the zipper of a bomber. Discussing this newsletter, Nate theorized that symmetry in clothing is most flattering if you, too, are as symmetrical as a model. So I tried on a double-breasted chore coat from Vétra. The six black buttons and the sharp angle of the wide lapel made for much more visual interest than the standard and the fit was nicely boxy, tapering slightly out. (French men tend to wear too-tight chore coats that are more in line with early 2010s Brooklyn style. IMO, even buttoned, the coat shouldn’t squeeze at all.) I have a thing about sleeves, too. They need to be able to button, but should never be fully buttoned unless you’re freezing. I always roll my sleeves back — even if you’re wearing a button-up or a sweater underneath it’s good because you look like a New York School poet. The Vétra jacket had a slit in lieu of sleeve buttons, allowing it to fold easily and stay clear of my wrists. An aesthetic and functional improvement! I took it home for €250. 

In the store, Jess observed that I would look a lot like a French waiter, as if that were a bad thing! (On Emily in Paris, Gabriel’s white chef coat is indeed double breasted.) Sure, at every restaurant we went to in Paris there was at least one server wearing bleu de travail. But so were young dads pushing strollers and elegant museum attendees. The chore coat’s functionalism is both literal and symbolic: When you are wearing it, you are working, even if you’re just looking at paintings or doing your email job. It’s like graphic designers wearing Carhartt, but less valor stolen from mechanics. In the Marais, we also stopped in to the Lemaire flagship store, a hushed hewn-stone temple to hyper-minimalist fashion with an ambient solo piano soundtrack, and there on display were black denim “workwear jackets” — for $745. They look exactly like all the other ones, but microscopically nicer and redolent of IYKYK $$$ clout. (As Andy Warhol said of expensive paintings, “I think you should take that money, tie it up, and hang it on the wall.”)

the Lemaire store (my photo)

I don’t think I’ll run into anyone else wearing this particular Vétra model in the United States, even as the chore coat’s stylistic stock rises. This year the brands are going to try to sell you on a “barn jacket” (see the slew of TikToks) but trust me, it’s all the same thing. Something so perfect isn’t prone to novelty. A L’O ships to the U.S., so you can order much of their stock from their site (my jacket is not there lol) or find an American stockist for one of the brands. Independence in Chicago seems to sell some Vétra. But to determine the right boxiness, you should really try them on. Even with the cost of a trip to Paris you’ll save money over buying the fancy version from Ssense.

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