What Spring Jackets Is Everyone Wearing This Year?

Isabelle Conner, a VP of integrated marketing at Skinfix, “felt uninspired by a classic denim jacket” — that is, until finding Uniqlo’s Barn Short Jacket on one of the days in early March when the temperature finally reached 50 degrees. It’s a “departure from the standard,” with a corduroy collar, pleat in the back, and plaid lining. So far while wearing it, she’s “trotted up” to her office, had a glass of wine in the East Village, and gone to the Carol Bove show at the Guggenheim (and, afterward, she had a grilled cheese with tomatoes at JG Melon — “feels like an important detail”).

When therapist Erica Tello moved from Austin to New York in 2022, she was “in desperate need” of something to reach for as the seasons changed. Madewell’s Denim Chore Jacket became a staple of her wardrobe. Especially in springtime “when you just need an easy jacket to layer.” It’s handled a fair share of “pollen-filled bike rides” and windy days alike. “I’m sure I’ll continue to wear it for many more springs to come,” she adds.

Journalist Eliza Dumais calls Sézane’s Carter Jacket a “mary jane in jacket form,” making her feel like Ludwig Bemelmans’s children’s-book character Madeline. “It hits at the perfect below-hip point, so it doesn’t have the same flasher-meets-Carmen Sandiego feel that some trench-style coats have,” she says. It traveled to Melbourne with her for three weeks, where “you’ll experience the full spectrum of global weather in a day. It’ll be blazingly sunny, then endlessly cloudy, then horribly windy, then there’ll be a biblical downpour.” And when she wasn’t carrying it around, it made for a “pretty solid windbreaker and a rain jacket the rest of the time.” Just beware that it can wrinkle easily, especially if you’re sitting down on a subway seat. “You’ll wind up with some lines that take an annoying amount of time to shake out,” she says. Her solution was placing it under a stack of history textbooks in her boyfriend’s childhood bedroom while in Australia.

Tamkin has had a version of this Polo Ralph Lauren bomber since January. It’s made for what she calls “jacket sandwiches,” or “wearing under heavier jackets or over lighter jackets.” It adds a tad of preppiness (in no small part thanks to the logo) to whatever she’s layering. “As the weather gets warmer, I think I’ll be wearing it with polos and shirts. I like a double collar,” she says. (There are a few versions of the style available in both men’s and women’s sizes — for example, here and here.)

“I don’t really consider this a trench — since there’s no lining and it’s not waterproof,” says Sofia Corbo, the community manager at Jenny Bird (and writer of Sofissimi on Substack). “It’s more of a crisp cotton topper.” Even so, she’s put it through unexpected rain showers (“While it’s not waterproof, it helps!”) and long days of travel. “It’s the perfect thing to throw on top of an outfit when you’re on a plane,” she says. “I usually layer a cotton tee and sometimes a cotton knit, depending on the weather situation. But with how light it is, I do find it really versatile.” Be mindful that it does run big. Corbo went with an XS at five-two, for reference. “I find it fits really oversize; I could have even gone with an XXS, which I’ve never been in my life,” she adds.

J.Crew debuted the barn jacket (designed by Sid Mashburn) in 1983, with new versions of the style arriving seasonally. This year’s Cropped Barn Jacket in Ripstop Cotton and Coated Barn Jacket are the “same but different” to the one Carrie Courogen, author of Miss May Does Not Exist, has been wearing for three springs in a row now. These are updated with a filling of trademarked PrimaLoft, a down alternative, rather than having the Liberty-print lining of Courogen’s. (“I do sometimes wish it was lined — that’s maybe the one fault of the jacket — but in some ways, that absence just makes it stretch further into the late-spring-early-summer days of I know it’s 70 degrees but I feel just a smidge cold in short sleeves,” she adds.) But Courogen’s has held up well: “I never return home from a day out with a ton of dust and pollen stuck to me.” If you’d like a version without the filling, it’s available in chino. No matter which version you choose, you get “Barbour vibes without the Barbour price tag,” she says.

Sydney Sarokin, the social-media manager at Margaux, had been looking for a denim jacket that wasn’t cropped like the traditional Levi’s one she had. The first time she tried a version of Carhartt’s Arctic Jacket back in 2023 (which fits “almost like an oversize blazer”), she decided not to buy it — because she didn’t think there was enough room in her carry-on. “After I left the store, I genuinely thought about it every 30 seconds for the rest of my trip,” she says. “I knew I needed it after about two days of torment over not buying it.” It paid off, especially last spring. “There were a couple insane rainstorms right at the end of May leading into summer. I remember being annoyed that I had to wear a jacket, because in my mind, once it hits May 1, we should be in 75-plus-degree weather no matter what,” she says. “I did pull out my favorite jacket and got absolutely drenched on my way to work.” But the material was so sturdy that it didn’t stick to her body, which is her “worst nightmare in the rain.”

A men’s overshirt from Wax London is what brand director Raisa Aziz has been wearing for a few seasons in a row now. (Note: The exact print she has isn’t in stock anymore, but a geometric design is available this season.) That includes at least two springs — “and plenty of chilly seaside summer evenings,” to boot. “The quality of the fabric is exceptional,” she says. It’s gotten the “crumpled suitcase treatment,” traveling everywhere from Maine to Paris. But the worst it’s been through is at the hands of her twins, “who’ve just realized they outnumber me and dumped two buckets of muddy water on me while I was gardening,” she says. “I’ve forgiven them — mostly because the jacket went straight into the wash and came out none the worse for it.” And she’ll throw it over anything (it’s most commonly worn for school drop-offs and pickups).

Oset Babür-Winter, the founder of Prix Fixe, has taken her Barbour all over the world — Mexico City, Aspen, Istanbul, London, Sonoma — and “it has held up fantastically” despite being constantly shoved into a carry-on. It’s ideal “when you need to layer but you’re not sure how much you need to layer.” Plus the corduroy accents and quilted material (that doesn’t read formal) go with her uniform: a button-down with jeans and loafers.

[Editor’s note: Babür-Winter’s exact Barbour jacket is sold out now, so we linked to a similar version.]

Krooss found this Soeur jacket in Paris three years ago (in a now-sold-out ecru, olive, and charcoal). It’s a go-to transitional item. “It’s quilted cotton, which means it’s warm but not too hot, and the boxy fit means it looks equally great over a tank or a sweater,” says Krooss. It was the only jacket she took on holiday to London last year. “It actually got caught in the door of the Tube on a packed train,” she says. “I had to stand there with the shoulder in the door until it opened again at the next stop. It left some nasty soot on it, but after a good dry-clean, it looked like nothing happened.” So you know it can handle a lot.

This little black leather jacket is similar to one Reid had for nearly ten years. (The original was from Beacon’s Closet and had a “prim cut that offset the toughness of black leather.”) “I love the rounded collar flaps, the big front pockets, and that the buttons are very easy to use (sometimes it feels like you’re forcing it with a leather jacket),” she says. And it’s a fair price for the quality — considering she edited a piece on leather jackets recently. “The leather feels durable, the stitching looks well done, and the actual weight of the jacket is enough that it can be a coat and not just an indoor layer,” she adds.

Filmmaker Emily May Jampel has taken her Sandy Liang fleece to Dia Beacon, Coney Island (on her way to Mermaid Spa), and even to a house party in Ridgewood. It keeps her warm when it’s a little chilly out. “I love that it’s a piece that I can both wear on a museum date but also out on a hike,” she says.

[Editor’s note: Jampel’s exact Sandy Liang fleece is sold out now, so we linked to a similar version.]

On a recent trip to Shanghai, Michelle J. Li, a costume designer and artist, found the temperatures colder than anticipated: “I didn’t pack a heavy enough layer when the sun dipped.” She couldn’t help but buy this trench, which has a removable down layer (with 700-plus fill power — which is on the higher end with the likes of Arc’teryx and North Face). “I’ve tossed it on during rain showers and windy evenings, and stripped out the inner down layer when it’s gotten too warm,” she says. And when it’s unzipped from the shell, it’s especially breathable (with vents under the arms). Some other thoughtful details she points out: pockets with “magnet closures stitched into the lining so you don’t have to worry about things falling out” and buttons at the collar so you can decide how to lay the neck. “I have never seen a trench tailored like that before,” she adds. Naturally, it’s become her new favorite winter-spring jacket. “I’m trying not to overwear it — though I’m not promising myself that,” she says.