Fjallraven  Kiruna Padded Insulated Parka - Women's

In my search for a knee-ish length winter jacket, my constant problem is that 90% of jackets on the market simply do not fit someone with a pronounced pear shape. I am 5'7" with a 28" waist and 43"-ish hips -- if I were to follow Fjallraven's sizing charts, I should be ordering a small, as their sizing charts do not account for hips. As it is, I was lucky enough to try this jacket in the store and can confirm this jacket runs small compared to other Fjallraven -- medium would have been the correct size for my upper body, and I had to size up to the large for it to zip comfortably over my hips. I don't mind going up a size for the hips -- for other straight-cut outdoor brands, there is often no size that will zip over my hips. The ability to snap in the waist at the back also helps give it a feminine figure that mitigates the top being somewhat oversized for me. The gorgeous fit is the main benefit for me -- I only found one other jacket this season (from REI's home brand) that fit me well this season. Other features I appreciate include the flexible waterproofing using greenland wax, the double zipper, snap storm closure that is EASY TO SNAP (the snaps on another jacket I tried were VERY hard to open and close), ideal warmth for my climate (temperate regions that rarely, if ever, see snow), adjustable hood, very comfortable and well-placed pockets (the angle your arms sit at while using the pockets is very natural, wheras many jackets force my arms at a rather jaunty angle), and TWO covert chest pockets (one accessible while the coat is zipped, one with a zipper inside the coat, this has been SO HANDY). The main drawback of this jacket for a pear-shaped person is that the arms are HUGE. As is typical for women of my build, I have tiny shoulders and regular arms. Going by other reviews, this coat fits an absolute dream for women with broad shoulders and long arms, which for me... means that when my arms hang naturally at my sizes, the coat completely engulfs my hands, not even the tips of my fingers can be seen. There is a snap-adjustable cuff which can be used to prevent the sleeve from going past my hands, but actually that brings me to another one of the cons of this jacket -- there is no ribbed cuff, and I find the G1000 fabric plus the snaps actually somewhat uncomfortable against bare skin. My solution has actually been folding the sleeve back to make a cuff, so that only the comfy lined part of the sleeve is touching my wrist. It's not ideal, but I'm willing to sacrifice a bit for a jacket that fits my other requirements so well. The final drawback is that the jacket is not comfortable when fully zipped with the hood down -- there is no fleece or similar at the top of the jacket to cushion the G1000 fabric from rubbing on your chin, and it zips up quite high to protect you from the wind (very much appreciated in the right circumstance) so it is bound to bump against your chin as opposed to a jacket that only zips up to a turtleneck. I also would have appreciated the option of a removable hood -- I generally never remove the hoods on jackets but the hood on this jacket is SO. LOUD. Not louder than any other polyester/nylon/shiny fabric-esque hood lining, but it's my first time having a non-fleece hood lining, so I was shocked by how the noise of the hood interferes with listening to conversation of the person right next to you. All in all, while I hope they will make improvements in the jacket for next year (some fabric cuffs at the sleeves, some fabric/fleece at the top of the zip where it meets your chin, and a less noisy lining for the hood are critically necessary), this was still better than everything else on the market that actually fit my very pear shape.

Coat fit well, sleeve length is long (great for me, I have long arms), like the length of the coat, but it's very thin. Very disappointed in warmth. I wore this to get the mail on a colder morning (lower 30s) and was cold across my shoulders and back within just a couple mins. I emailed Fjallraven directly to ask if I needed to fluff the coat, their response is that it's a thin coat and best suited for spring/fall weather. Cool weather, not cold, unless you'll be layering. REI lists this as a 'warmest' option. Three stars bc both Fjallraven and REI sites give the impression this coat should provide more warmth than it does.