Firstly I would like to thank you wonderful experts here for keeping a true forum community alive, I believe it was on here where I was first awared of LOST WORLDS, I went through Stuart's website pattern by pattern charmed by the old-school site and his evident
attention to detail and love of his craft. Near the bottom of the website i saw the 'vintage trench' style and was completely taken aback, this is what I had been seeking!! I then devoted myself for multiple months to scanning eBay and the other usual suspect makers
for something similar.. belted, double-breasted and not cut like those mall "overcoats" that reach the hips at best, but a real honest calf-length coat!! I already own a Buzz Rickson leather peacoat and a little Toyo Indian steer sport jacket, the Buzz has an absolutely deplorable
veg-tanned finish, and some other questionable finishing touches, though the fit is quite sharp, I can attach a photo of it here if people would like.. the Indian is a fun little jacket but since it's a motorcycle jacket with no action-back it has quite pronounced
shoulders, I'm not a big fellow so it does look a little goofy. But anyway this is mere preamble, I became intrigued by this long coat style after quite liking the aesthetic and wearability of an Arc'teryx Veilance Partition coat, but the gore-tex and detestable
micro-fibre lining made it impractical to wear most of the time, but I found the longer length style wore very easily with almost everything, and didn't 'impose' any kind of aesthetic presuppositions. I almost jumped on a vintage leather Burberry's trench that was
admittedly less than half the cost of this Lost Worlds, but I knew in my heart of hearts that I would still dream of the Lost Worlds, so I decided to email Stuart just to see what his vibe was.
I opted for a 3.5oz black horse makeup with a NOS wool lining. As I live in the great white north I also chose to have the sleeves lined in the same wool to equalise the insulation throughout the coat. The coat is very HEAVY but it is cut so exquisitely that as soon
as I put it on the weight completely disappears, everything is evenly distributed, it feels no different than wearing my waist length Indian jacket. I originally ordered a 36 and about a week after finalising everything with Stuart and sending my payment I sent
him an email to ask if the invoice could be altered to a 38, I'm so glad I did, the fit is fantastic and I have much room to layer underneath!! And Stuart himself said the 38 would probably be better, funnily enough I asked again later if we should alter the sleeves given the size increase and he said something like 'no, sorry it's gone into production', I said 'that's quite alright I'm sure it will be excellent anyway'
and he said I quote 'IT MUST EXCEED EXCELLENT'.. Well.. I'm happy to say it does, even upon taking it out of the box and sliding my right arm into the sleeve I knew the fit was good. Finishing is completely perfect, the stitching is tight and even and the selection
and character of the horsehide panels is absolutely lovely. Stuart is a top-class guy and it is evident that he puts a great deal of love and passion into these garments he puts together under the Lost Worlds label. I'm not quite as much of a 'collector' as some
of the folks here so this may be my only Lost Worlds jacket, I certainly bought this to be a 'as-near-to-forever-as-possible' jacket and I'm glad to have gotten exactly what I wanted! Now here are some photographs.
The vintage trench is based on a WWI cavalry coat that Stuart has in his archive... as it was made for wearing in the saddle the lining is actually disconnected from the coat along the bottom hem, just a fun detail! Excuse my house pants!!
attention to detail and love of his craft. Near the bottom of the website i saw the 'vintage trench' style and was completely taken aback, this is what I had been seeking!! I then devoted myself for multiple months to scanning eBay and the other usual suspect makers
for something similar.. belted, double-breasted and not cut like those mall "overcoats" that reach the hips at best, but a real honest calf-length coat!! I already own a Buzz Rickson leather peacoat and a little Toyo Indian steer sport jacket, the Buzz has an absolutely deplorable
veg-tanned finish, and some other questionable finishing touches, though the fit is quite sharp, I can attach a photo of it here if people would like.. the Indian is a fun little jacket but since it's a motorcycle jacket with no action-back it has quite pronounced
shoulders, I'm not a big fellow so it does look a little goofy. But anyway this is mere preamble, I became intrigued by this long coat style after quite liking the aesthetic and wearability of an Arc'teryx Veilance Partition coat, but the gore-tex and detestable
micro-fibre lining made it impractical to wear most of the time, but I found the longer length style wore very easily with almost everything, and didn't 'impose' any kind of aesthetic presuppositions. I almost jumped on a vintage leather Burberry's trench that was
admittedly less than half the cost of this Lost Worlds, but I knew in my heart of hearts that I would still dream of the Lost Worlds, so I decided to email Stuart just to see what his vibe was.
I opted for a 3.5oz black horse makeup with a NOS wool lining. As I live in the great white north I also chose to have the sleeves lined in the same wool to equalise the insulation throughout the coat. The coat is very HEAVY but it is cut so exquisitely that as soon
as I put it on the weight completely disappears, everything is evenly distributed, it feels no different than wearing my waist length Indian jacket. I originally ordered a 36 and about a week after finalising everything with Stuart and sending my payment I sent
him an email to ask if the invoice could be altered to a 38, I'm so glad I did, the fit is fantastic and I have much room to layer underneath!! And Stuart himself said the 38 would probably be better, funnily enough I asked again later if we should alter the sleeves given the size increase and he said something like 'no, sorry it's gone into production', I said 'that's quite alright I'm sure it will be excellent anyway'
and he said I quote 'IT MUST EXCEED EXCELLENT'.. Well.. I'm happy to say it does, even upon taking it out of the box and sliding my right arm into the sleeve I knew the fit was good. Finishing is completely perfect, the stitching is tight and even and the selection
and character of the horsehide panels is absolutely lovely. Stuart is a top-class guy and it is evident that he puts a great deal of love and passion into these garments he puts together under the Lost Worlds label. I'm not quite as much of a 'collector' as some
of the folks here so this may be my only Lost Worlds jacket, I certainly bought this to be a 'as-near-to-forever-as-possible' jacket and I'm glad to have gotten exactly what I wanted! Now here are some photographs.
The vintage trench is based on a WWI cavalry coat that Stuart has in his archive... as it was made for wearing in the saddle the lining is actually disconnected from the coat along the bottom hem, just a fun detail! Excuse my house pants!!