A great coat should weather the weather, keep you warm and make you feel good. But it should also tell a story, since for much for the winter it covers your usual mode of communication. Sometimes you buy the coat because the story is built in. Sometimes you buy the coat out of necessity and a story develops. Sometimes someone else tells you a story that sends you in search of you and your coat’s tale, so here, try this one on for size:
It was way too warm for mid-October. There was definitely something unnatural about the heat, but we soaked it up in preparation of the imminent East Coast winter. We were two models (Sydney Walsh and Ella Hilaire), one photographer (Krista Anna Lewis), one styling assistant who was also tasked with calling in 800 accessories (Elizabeth Tamkin) for the neurotic writer and stylist (me, Amelia), plus captain Jacob who endured way too many poorly accented renditions of “I am de captain now,” eight coats and Lucy. Lucy the Tugboat.
Lucy isn’t just any old tugboat. She was found dry-docked in Maine for over three years by a couple named Lyndsay Caleo and Fitzhugh Karol. They fell in love with the boat, rehabilitated her from bow to stern, named her Lucy after a Lyndsay’s beloved chocolate lab and got married on Lucy’s deck in September.
MR’s Editorial Director, Leslie Price, told us about Lucy the Tugboat about two weeks after Leandra brought up a coats shoot. Then Amelia said, “let’s shoot coats on boats” — wait for it — “because it rhymes.”
Which is how the aforementioned six found ourselves rocking back and forth in the Brooklyn Marina, with poor Elizabeth and Krista turning green at the gills (scurvy still exists! eat your citrus!), and the sun on our face and the wind in our hair, the two tallest women aboard posing despite sweating in their winter outerwear. It was like being part of an America’s Next Top Model challenge with the water as Tyra and me as Mrs. Jay because I was living my best life and having the best day ever.
So that’s the story behind these coats. Now it’s your turn to share.
Special thanks to Fitzhugh Karol and Lyndsay Caleo, lead designers and co-creative directors at Brooklyn Home Company for letting us use their boat. Follow them on Instagram @brooklynhomecompany.
Models: Sydney Walsh @sydwilkenwalsh and Ella Hilaire @ellatheorchid.
Stylist: Amelia Diamond
Photos by Krista Anna Lewis with market assistance by Elizabeth Tamkin.
