The waning days of autumn – when the weather is still deceptively pleasant – make for the perfect time to invest in winter outerwear. The reasons are twofold: firstly, you will be well-prepared for the inevitable sudden drops in temperature, and second, you will be getting a headstart on your competition (as any avid shopper knows, getting your hands on the best outerwear, in your size, is a yearly contest).
London-based designer Oliver Spencer, whose work is a contemporary riff on the classical British menswear canon, has placed outerwear front and centre of his winter collection, which draws inspiration from Alpine dress codes circa the 1970s. Titled ‘Postcards from Lech-Zürs’ – a nod to the Austrian ski resort called the ‘cradle of Alpine skiing’ which enjoyed a heyday in the 1960s and 1970s – the collection is designed to encapsulate the designer’s soft, unstructured approach to tailoring and has a mood of rich eclectism (often, Spencer’s collections feel like discovering the spoils of a particularly good vintage store).
‘Postcards from Lech-Zürs’: Oliver Spencer’s alpine adventure
Outerwear captures this louche mood: the ‘Big Coat’ is a 1970s-tinged double-breasted overcoat in hardy, midweight wool – whether beige houndstooth, flecked charcoal or a deep navy – and is satisfyingly oversized. Slightly narrower is the single-breasted ‘Grandad Coat’, which loops smartly around the waist with an attached belt. Available in a chocolate brown wide-wale cotton corduroy, navy wool, brown herringbone or a bolder coloured check, Spencer calls it the ‘consummate winter layer’.
Shorter styles include the ‘Arlington’ bomber, which is inspired at once by vintage flight jackets and Ivy League varsity uniforms. Meanwhile, tailored jackets – like those in weighty cord or the workwear-inspired ‘Solms Jacket’ – are thick enough to double as an outer layer, particularly when paired with this season’s knitwear. Spencer says he hopes the collection inspires individual sartorial experimentation: 'buttoned-up or left undone, [this collection] is an invitation for each wearer to be their own main character. Occasionally off-piste, always on-point, always your way.’ The accompanying images were shot on location on the snow-covered slopes of Lech-Zürs.
The collection also marks steps forward in sustainability, a founding principle of the label which has seen Spencer launch world-leading circularity schemes like ‘Repurpose’, which won a Wallpaper* Design Award in 2024. This season, much of the production has been local, not only lowering the brand’s carbon footprint, but ensuring the future of the British textile industry, which largely works using time-honed techniques. ‘Our industry makes a massive footprint,’ Spencer told Wallpaper* earlier this year. ‘We need to get a lot better at what we are doing. We’re responsible for the garments we make.’
Oliver Spencer’s winter collection is available from the brand’s website and international stores, including Harvey Nichols.
