Autumn here is not a temperature, it is a forecast that changes while you are reading it. Dry when you leave, sideways rain by the time you reach the station, close and airless on the train, cold again on the walk at the other end.
The answer is not a heavier coat. It is a coat that handles water and layers underneath that come off on the train.
Start with the walk, not the destination
Most of what goes wrong is decided in the twelve minutes between your front door and somewhere indoors. Dress for those twelve minutes and take a layer off when you arrive — the other way round does not work, because you cannot add what you left at home.
The three-layer rule
- Base: a fine long-sleeve or a shell that is comfortable on its own in a warm office
- Middle: a knit or cardigan — the piece that comes off on the train and goes back on outside
- Outer: something that sheds water and does not hold it
Each layer has to look finished by itself, because each one will be the outer layer at some point before six o'clock.
Fabrics that survive a wet walk
Wool holds warmth even damp, which is why it has outlasted every fabric invented to replace it. Cotton does not — a soaked cotton coat is cold for the rest of the day. Anything you will wear in real rain wants a tight weave or a finish on it.
Shoes, and the puddle problem
A leather ankle boot with a sealed sole covers almost every autumn day. Suede is for dry weeks, and a dry week is not something to plan a wardrobe around between October and March. If you own one pair of autumn boots, make them the ones that can take a wet pavement.
The umbrella you will actually carry
A large umbrella left at home keeps nobody dry. A small one that lives in the bag gets used, and a coat with a hood means the decision never has to be made at all.
What this looks like on a Tuesday
A fine long-sleeve, a wool knit, a water-resistant coat, straight trousers and a sealed ankle boot. On the platform it is all on. On the train the knit comes off. At the desk the coat is on the back of the chair drying, and you are neither damp nor too warm, which on an English October morning is the whole ambition.