Y’all, faux fur trim has got me feeling some kind of way this winter. Don’t get me wrong, I own several faux fur pieces I bought prior to this latest cold snap; I have faux fur shawls and shrugs, a trimmed coat, a trimmed skirt suit, even. But this season, no. This season it’s different. I’ve been buying or Watch Listing faux furs of every colour. I bought a wrap jacket with cuff and collar trimming while putting two trimmed dresses and a cape bolero on my wishlists for Christmas. And all the while I kept revisiting the Hell Bunny site every few days, loading up the product page of the Isadora coat and pining. Sighing. Swooning.

As the kids these days say: much want. 

The thing is, when I saw this coat previewed back in September I wanted it then, but technically I already had an almost-new faux fur trimmed coat that would see me through several winters more. I didn’t need another.

But then. Then I tried on my old coat, and what’s this! The sleeves were tight. My chubby summer had lead to a winter in which my coat wasn’t really going to be comfortable for full day’s wear if I wanted to go for a winter day out or a day/weekend trip to London to see friends. Which meant only one thing.

Oh no, she says with unconvincing despair, I’m doing to have to buy a new coat. What a shame. 

Cue the distant sound of cackling.

Coat: Navy Isadora coat by Hell Bunny
Shoes: Black Scallop Peep Toe heels by Bettie Page

The Isadora coat is actually an update of Hell Bunny’s Elvira coat that they released previously for 2015’s Autumn/winter season. Available in both navy blue and camel, once I’d decided I was going to treat myself to the Isadora I was torn between the two colours, able to see benefits to both. I was fixed for a long time on getting the camel, but in the end I decided to opt for the navy because I thought it would show up dirt or marks less easily if I ever got a bit messy (I live in the countryside, where there is mud aplenty, and I’m also always a bit paranoid about getting something on my clothes while travelling in London on the Tube, etc.)

As soon as it arrived I knew the navy was the right choice for me, as it’s such a rich and beautiful shade, especially against the multi-toned brown of the faux fur trim. (Although, honestly, if I could get my hands on the camel as well, I totally would.) That faux fur trim at the cuffs, all along the hem and around the edging of the hood is soft and sleek, giving the whole coat a next-level feel of luxury. I love that it has varying shades of brown in it, from a dark almost-blonde at the roots to a near-black at the ends, adding depth of tone to the trim.

The rest of the coat has just as much luxury to offer. It’s fully lined in a satin feel polyester, including the hood, which is so spacious that it doesn’t mess up my hair. It’s that hood that drew me so ardently to this coat, as none of my other swing coats have a hood that could help protect my hair and makeup from rain or wind, obviously a top priority in pinup life. There’s also sizable pockets for keeping your hands warm and your odds and ends safe (How infuriating are fake pockets on coats?! On anything, really, but especially coats.) The seaming in the back and through the waist is made to hug your body before flatteringly dropping away to the full skirt, which can fully cover a petticoat puffed full swing skirt without straining. The fabric covered buttons go to the very top of the coat, meaning you can button up fully to keep your neck and chest warm, thankfully, because a coat that necessitates a scarf for full warmth annoys me.

In terms of warmth, I have seen a few ladies say they found they still had to layer up a lot with this coat to keep fully warm, but I haven’t found that to be an issue at all. The first day I wore this was on a cold December day in London over an outfit that consisted only of a half-sleeved lightweight-fabric swing dress, a pair of nude tights and a pair of ballet pumps, and I was perfectly toasty. I would have liked to have remembered to take a pair of gloves with me to help with my hands, but stashing them in my pockets solved that problem.

In my opinion, the coat is exactly the medium-heavy weight expected of this kind of design and offers the appropriate warmth–it’s never going to be as warm as an insulated cold weather jacket made for outdoor sports or harsh weather extremes, but no stylish coat ever will. If you run very cold easily or live somewhere where the temperatures drop to extremes, yes, you may have to add additional thermal layers under this coat to keep warm, or skip it altogether in place of something more practical for your environment. But for someone such as myself, who runs neither hot nor cold, who lives in the South of England where winter weather typically varies between 8°C at best and -9°C at the worse, it’s warm, lush and as stylish as I could ever wish to be in winter. Plus, it makes me feel like a movie star, and perhaps on that same London day out mentioned above I may have said ‘I love my new coat so much’ multiple times throughout the day.

My only final offering is that the sizing is consistent with Hell Bunny’s normal sizing. On the whole, they run half a dress size large compared to their size charts, I find, and because it was important to me for this coat to be comfortable in the arms and shoulders especially, I opted for my usual Hell Bunny size 16/XL. The coat fit exactly as expected, true to their normal sizing, comfortable even in my chubby upper arms, with room for layers or a bulky cardigan underneath. It is, in sum, my favourite purchase of this entire winter season.

The Isadora coat comes in sizes XS-4XL in navy and camel. It’s sold out on Hell Bunny’s own website (EDIT 09/01/17: Hell Bunny are expecting a restock in all sizes very soon, so make sure to use discount code AMYMAY20!% to get 20% off your order,) but it’s still available at select other stockists. I bought mine from Retroesque UK, which has it in both colours and most sizes, linked below. Below I’ve also listed a few other stockists I’ve found, but there may be other options in your part of the world if you do your own additional searches.

Camel in all sizes except L from Retroesque UK £170 (Free UK delivery)
Navy in 4XL from Retroesque UK £170 (Free UK delivery)
Navy sizes is S & M from Bluebanana.com £164.99
Camel in sizes S, 3XL & 4XL from Retroglam $209CAD
Camel in XS-L from Wannabe.fi 195EUR

If those websites don’t have the size you need anymore, be sure to keep an eye on Hellbunny.com for their restock.