Why You Should Be Taking Your Style Cues from Paddington Bear

Do you remember when you first met Paddington? **Michael Bond’**s children’s tale of a small Peruvian brown bear who turns up in a London train station, A Bear Called Paddington has been beloved by adults and tots alike since its debut in 1958, and is arriving on screens in the U.S. tomorrow (after first garnering rave reviews in the U.K.: he is a British bear, after all). And frankly, we’re more than a little excited about it. (I mean, Nicole Kidman as a villainous taxidermist? What’s not to love?)

But here’s the thing about Paddington: He is kind of really very chic. That floppy russet-hued hat could be straight off the Chanel Métiers d’Art runway, for one (just add feathers). That battered and buffed-up brown suitcase is just the right kind of classic (complete with monogram! Though in the film it’s identified by a large stuck-on label. Very Anya Hindmarch). And that coat! That coat. That navy toggle-closed duffle coat with natty clementine-check lining! That coat—all classic charm (it was originally worn in camel tones by the British Royal Navy during World War I, where it was referred to as “the convoy coat,” and seems to remain the only coat in a gentleman’s wardrobe that has a hood), the navy hue delivering the right amount of difference—is the pinnacle of just-the-right amount of prep to imbue any wardrobe with the barest whiff of heartwarming nostalgia. It’s hard not to feel a bit young and full of charm in a duffle coat: It’s just as much Paddington Bear as it is Ali MacGraw traipsing across Harvard Yard in Love Story. (It should also be noted, for the cinephiles among us, that Stanley Kubrick famously kept a duffle coat handy on the sets of his films.) Looser-fitting for ease of movement and layering potential (that British damp!), the duffle will never, ever, ever go out of style. Just like Paddington, now that we think about it.