Peacoats, duffle coats, bomber jackets: most of the best outerwear in your closet, like great uncles at a family reunion, all share a military background. But right now, the coolest military outerwear you can own isn’t actually outerwear at all. Liner jackets are exactly what they sound like—an insulated liner designed to button into the interior of an M-65 field jacket for some added warmth.
There’s no disputing that the M-65 is an icon, championed for decades by unwittingly stylish civilians like Travis Bickle and that heavily tattooed mensch whipping up your morning latte. At some point in the last few years, though, a certain breed of fashion-savvy dude began rocking the liners all on their own, embracing their odd union of a cardigan’s neckline with the ruggedness of a down parka. Nowadays, in addition to the real-deal army surplus joints, you can cop versions designed expressly to be worn solo from labels as disparate as Everlane and Visvim.
On milder winter days, layer one over a burly sweater or a cropped hoodie and consider yourself good to go. And when January really starts getting scary, wear your liner jackets the way they were intended—under a coat—as an additional line of defense against the elements, and then solider on undeterred.
