A raincoat you'll actually look forward to wearing

(time-sensitive)

It happens every year: the first truly grim, soaking rain of spring, when it’s finally too warm to wear the puffer coat you’ve relied on in recent inclement weather and too wet to get by with just a jacket and an umbrella. It’s time for a raincoat — ideally a good one.

My criteria for what I would consider a “good” raincoat are as follows:

1. It should be waterproof or water-resistant.

2. Holding aside its intended purpose (i.e. keeping me dry), it should stand on its own as a cool piece of outerwear that I would own and wear even if it was just a regular coat made from a different type of material.

Relatively simple, and yet finding raincoats that fulfill both is a genuine challenge. I wish more brands would just make waterproof versions of great coats they’re already designing for dry weather, but that doesn’t seem to happen often. For the most part, our options are limited to raincoats designed by technical apparel brands, which tend to look distinctly like raincoats, rather than chic coats that also happens to be waterproof. And once you put on a distinctly raincoat-y raincoat, your entire outfit is subsumed into the singular pursuit of water resistance; the balance tips so far toward function that personal style is forced to take a backseat.

One of my go-to transitional weather rain outfit templates: a button down layered over a T-shirt with pants that crop at the ankle, a light raincoat, rain boots, and a baseball cap

Here’s what the jacket looks like buttoned up

The best raincoat I’ve ever owned is the one pictured above from COS, which is about six or seven years old. You might recognize it from my post a couple of years ago about unexpected wardrobe MVPs. It fulfills both of my good raincoat criteria in that 1) it’s waterproof and 2) it’s a great silhouette that stands on its own as a cool piece of outerwear, one that is able to harmonize with outfits instead of overpowering them. I would happily wear it in other, non-waterproof materials — it actually reminds me of this cotton jacket that Totême made a handful of seasons ago, which I also love.

I’ve been scouring the internet over the last couple of weeks for more raincoats that look like they check the same boxes. I actually found two secondhand versions of my exact COS raincoat (one in the olive green color I have, and one in black!!!), which I’ve linked out below along with 18 other ideas.