3 surefire tips for buying a great winter coat

It's always a good idea to look for a winter coat before the first snow falls: you'll have a larger selection and feel less pressure to buy the first one you see. And while the thrill of the hunt is exciting, nothing beats finding the perfect coat that suits your needs, budget and shape. Here's how to take the guesswork out of shopping.

[Photo credit: iStock.com/Alexandra lakovleva]

The best way to organize yourself before coat shopping is to have a clear idea of your body type, identify your best assets and know what you want to minimize.

• Although you may love a coat on the hanger, if it’s the wrong cut for your frame you won’t enjoy wearing it and it'll be a waste of money.
• Similarly, you may not initially like a coat the first time you glance at it in the store but try it on anyway. You could be pleasantly surprised. At worst, you'll simply take it off and move on to the next coat that draws your attention.

There are some questions you'll want to ask yourself when trying to figure out which coat style will look best on you. That includes:

• Is your body proportionately top-heavy? Are your shoulders and breasts larger than your hips? Or is is it the other way around?
• Do you have a well-defined waist? Sometimes people refer to this as an hourglass figure.

For these types of figures, there's a style of cut to flatter every beautiful curve:

Women with a proportionately larger upper body
Women with this type of shape will benefit from buying a straight-cut coat since the rectangular line of this style will balance your figure and your tiny hips.

Women with large hips and thighs
If this is your shape, then you should avoid skirted coats with a flared hem.

• A better option might be a fitted coat with structure at the waistline, but pay special attention to how the hem falls across your hips.
• Your objective is to draw the focus to the top half of your body and de-emphasize the bottom. A fitted coat with a hood or subtle shoulder pads will accomplish this beautifully.

If your shoulders and hips are proportional
You can easily play up your hourglass shape with a belted coat that's cinched at the waist.

Once you've determined which body type applies to your shape, you can get ready to start trying coats on in the fitting room.

Most winter coat colours are dark and sombre. Why not push your comfort zone and experiment with pastels, bold colours and winter whites? They can add a brilliant splash of colour during winter's dreary days.

• Make sure the colour is something that not only makes you feel great, but is a colour you enjoy as well. You'll be wearing the coat a lot and don't want to get tired of it after a couple of weeks!

Figuring out your general body type and the colours to which you are drawn will help make finding a winter coat that you love much easier – so you can be cozy and warm as soon as the cold weather hits.