Take note: AW23 street style is all about the trench

The trench coat is one of those staples which has a chameleonic quality. Over its long and eventful life, it has traversed both battlefields and runways, dressed high society and La Boheme, seen in company of both tanks and tastemakers. Throughout its illustrious closet career, it has morphed materially too: evolving from the signature gabardine to glossy vinyl, faux leathers, and soft suede. Yet despite its constant metamorphosis, it has remained a true classic.

Just consider its impact on cinema. We find it draped across the shoulders of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca as he utters the ever-quotable line 'Here's looking at you kid', and cinched tight around Audrey Hepburn during her kiss in the downpour with George Peppard at the end of Breakfast at Tiffany's. It was also an irrevocable part of Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo's wardrobes as they pioneered the precipice of gender-fluid fashion.

As such, a high-quality trench coat is a lifetime investment co-signed by Scandi street stylers and international tastemakers alike. Over recent weeks, the style set has cropped up in iterations of the classic coat worldwide: in New York, billowing silhouettes ruled supreme, while London presented pared-back options in black and beige. In Copenhagen, statement-making offerings were the outerwear of choice, with both silver croc options and Matrix-reminiscent leather versions.

Below, let the street style looks inspire your own spring ensembles and browse the best to invest in now, handpicked by our shopping editor: