The Princess and The Peacoat: Amanda Brooks has a thing for men in uniform. [Men’s Vogue]

Okay, Who Farted?: Gucci and Louis Vuitton unveiled diamond-encrusted, WMD-proof gas-masks at the Bucharest Luxury fair because, really, who wants to survive a ricin attack in just any old thing? [Complex]

So? New?: R29 introduces us to our new neighbors. [Refinery29]

Spin Cycle: Damien Hirst shows no mercy to Levis Jeans. And you thought that cow had it bad. [Gawker]

Long May it Rain: Barbour employees worldwide will enjoy tea and cake tomorrow at 4pm to celebrate the waxed-cotton giant’s centenary - and nothing could be more just and perfect. [Vogue UK]

Deal Alert: Again, Racked comes through with discounts on Original Penguin. [Racked]

That eternally classic item of military-inspired menswear, the peacoat, has been interpreted in myriad different ways and fabrics over the years since it was first adopted by European navies some 250 years ago. Leave it to Hermes, however, to blow it out of the water.

For Fall, the famed house’s menswear designer Véronique Nichanian made a peacoat entirely of top-grade crocodile skin that will set you back a cool $150,000 and change, which gets our vote for the season’s most extravagant men’s item. The Hermes flagship on the Upper East Side just got in two of them, we’re told, in classic navy. You might be able to special order it another color—safety orange, say—if you’re willing to wait a few months and further decimate the crocodile population.

Frankly, we can see multiple-MOTH Cameron Silver sporting one of these for a sojourn on Valentino’s yacht or somesuch, but ordinary mortals will probably want to stick with the $120 version they sell at The Gap.

Between Savile-obsessed trads and an older tribe still reliving the British Invasion, it’s easy to forget the younger generation of British designers, even when they’re churning out goods as impressive as anything you’ll find in New York. For example, our old friend Oliver Spencer.

Spencer’s Fall ’08 line has a lot to recommend it, but what caught our eye was the rough fabrics, long pirate-style peacoat, and his clever twists on the cardigan. Add in a little classic tailoring, and we’re pretty much sold. What else would you expect from Keith’s tailor?

See the line in full»

It’s nice to know Paul Smith still has a few tricks up his sleeve.

They call this a peacoat, but it couldn’t have less in common with the nautical woolies you see in coming in with winter. This looks more like something you’d see on an 18th century foot soldier…provided he’s on the British side.

Nautical duds are nothing new, but we’re always glad to see a good idea take root.

In this case, that means Mister Freedom, a Paris-by-way-of-Los-Angeles marque, is releasing a line based on the ten years their mascot spent sailing the Indian Ocean. It’s all fiction, naturally, but they go as far as titling the line “The Last Cruise, the Salty Years,” which certainly rolls off the tongue better than “spring/summer ’09.”

As you might imagine, the clothes are pretty thoroughly broken in, but they’re also impressively well-chosen, ranging from peacoats circa 1910 to replicated U.S. Navy “jungle cloth” that was phased out in 1950. Not bad for archival work, but we still can’t see a deck hat without thinking of Gilligan…

See the line here»