This year’s 'It' coat? NYC influencers say it’s a $1,300 puffer.

If New York City had an unofficial winter uniform, it would be the black puffer jacket. New Yorkers sport their puffers so reliably that in 2022 influencer Millie Enaro captured this in a viral TikTok video: “Are you from New York even?” she asked, jokingly indignant. “Do you have a big black puffer jacket even?”

But rather than being a mere joke, it was a display of her New York bona fides. If you are a New Yorker and the temperature is near freezing, you are likely to be wearing the signature winter look.

It’s a style that started decades ago, and which some attribute to Norma Kamali’s “Sleeping Bag Coat,” first designed in 1973. New Yorkers in the decades since have gravitated to brands such as the North Face, South Pole and Baby Phat. The early 2010s brought about the rise of Marmot Biggie, a $680 status symbol that was infamously associated with a rise in violence among young New Yorkers desperate to attain one.

Some of today’s most coveted outerwear labels, at least according to the city’s fashion influencers, include Aritzia, Canada Goose and Moncler.

But the most in-demand of them all is the Canadian brand Mackage, which has a Kay down coat with natural fur signature collar and retails for $1,290. In 2021, the Montreal-based company opened its SoHo flagship, saying New York City was “like a second home.”

Some influencers say their puffer is part of the “NYC Girl uniform.” It has become so associated with New York City street fashion that one of the original innovators in hip-hop’s “ghetto fabulous” couture era, Lil' Kim, became Mackage's brand ambassador in 2022.

“I love their incredible leathers and puffers,” she said, emphasizing that the brand had a keen understanding of her distinct New York style and sensibilities.

“It’s getting cold outside, I stay warm in a Mackie,” said Ms. Jo, a popular local influencer who turned her obsession with Mackage into a viral song.

Some are not deterred by the puffer's price.

“If you're not from New York, you don’t understand why we need these coats and why they become part of our uniform,” insisted one New Yorker on TikTok. “So yes, I spent a lot of money on a coat, because I don’t want to be cold.”

Across social media, young female fans of Mackage coats praise their warmth and silhouettes. While down jackets can be bulky, fans of Mackage (the Kay and Trish coats in particular) say they are more form-fitting, and taper at the waist to counterbalance the large fur-lined hood and showcase a more hourglass figure.

But why a black puffer at all? Why is it so ubiquitous?

It comes down to two reasons, according to Emma McClendon, assistant professor of fashion studies at St. John’s University: coziness and warmth.

The appeal of any black puffer is largely due to the warmth generated by the down material. That is often cozier than a leather jacket or more formal wool coat “because you're creating pockets of air that are then warmed by your body and create an insulating layer between you and the outer world,” said McClendon.

Whether the internal material is made of synthetic fibers or down, as with the Kay by Mackage, the coat creates an airtight cocoon that allows the body to insulate itself at a level only comparable to high-end furs.

“What's really interesting to consider is sort of the way that these puffer coats that are extremely expensive telegraph in New York City itself,” said McClendon. “There is something very particularly New York — taking something and making it into this kind of tribe style.”