Here’s How To Customise Your Old Coat – And Make It Look New

Even if you’ve got the sewing skills of a partially-sighted person with the wine shakes, there’s no excuse for not being able to stitch on a button, and switching the plain old ones your coat came with for something more razzy is a great way to give it a refresh. A grey coat can be instantly lifted from the gloom with fresh pastel buttons, or mix-and-match vintage ones will allow you to make the old look new. See what you’re drawn to and go with it.
Pastel buttons, £1, John Lewis

Drape a faux-fur collar (or a ‘tippet’, as it’s known in the biz) around your neck, and BOOM, you’ve got a totally different coat that looks like it belongs to a groupie from Prada’s AW14 show. Bonus: you can use it to tart up all the jackets you own, too.
Faux Fur Tippet, £22, Accessorize

If you’re not a commitment-phobe then you can give your old coat a dose of attitude by banging on some metal studs. Go for a few around the edge of the collar, cover the lapels, or spell out ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ down the back, depending on where you put yourself on the scale of Taylor Swift to Courtney Love, and enjoy how much better it looks with your leather leggings now.
Silver studs, £4, John Lewis

Angela Lansbury knows the textural impact of layering a scarf under the collar of her coat in Murder She Wrote, but that doesn’t make this trick the reserve of those heading to a WI meeting (hey, telly’s best detective is more of a style icon than you think). Pick something with a print that’s the opposite of twee or with even more texture from fringing, and you’ll be amazed by the scarf’s transformative powers.
Silk scarf, £106, The Outnet

A buttoned up coat needn’t hide an interesting outfit underneath. Roll up your coat sleeves to just above your wrists to let a colourful jumper sleeve poke out from underneath, for a multi-layered look that will give your neutral outer layer a lift.
Fluro Jumper, £50, Topshop

Who says that a bag you can only fit a phone, a tenner and a lipstick in is useless? Throw a fun-coloured or textured one over your coat and it has the same impact as a massive necklaces over a white T-shirt. Jewellery for your coat! Just stash the stuff you actually need to carry in a quiet canvas tote.
Bag, £22, ASOS

Fold the collar of a contrasting jacket, such as something in denim or leather, around the collar of a coat worn over it, and you’ve got a brilliantly homemade hybrid. Plus, double the coat, double the warmth.
Denim Jacket, £38, ASOS

Speaking of homemade hybrid coats, a textural gilet worn over your coat will totally transform how it originally looked, especially if it’s in a contrasting colour. Think of it as the clothing version of the plastic rings that pop over a swatch-watch.
Fur vest, £59.99, Zara