Kartik Research

Chintz Chore Coat

$2,650

Slot: Outer
Formality: 4 / 5
Warmth: 2 / 5
Retail: $2,650

The Chintz Chore Coat is a chore coat from Kartik Research, $2,650 at retail. Matka silk, Zardozi. Linen version $2,350.

Shoulder-season weight — layer it, or save it for the mild end of the season. It dresses up, and pairs badly with anything that reads like gym kit.

Tagged craft, and down for going out and work — those are the occasions the builder will actually put it in front of you for.

Look 01 · Raag

A raag is a framework, not a song — a set of notes you are handed and expected to improvise inside. This outfit is built the same way. One extraordinary object and four ordinary ones, chosen to make it survive a Tuesday. The Chintz Chore Coat is matka silk with Zardozi embroidery and rates 2 out of 5 for warmth — not a winter coat, a winter garment. Everything under it does the work: the merino carries the heat, the 13.8 oz Livid Keri grounds the silk before it tips into costume, and the Konseal keeps it real. Formality runs 4 at the shoulders and 2 at the ground, and that drop is the point. Kartik Kumra answered 2025's 50% tariff on Indian goods by putting Ahmedabad hand-embroidery on the Paris runway rather than moving production offshore. The tariff has since gone; the hand-work has not.

SkipThe Rabari Leather Blazer at $1,700. If you buy one Kartik piece it is the chore coat — the leather is beautiful and carries none of the story you are actually paying for.

The rest of the fit

One garment per remaining slot, chosen the way the builder chooses: occasion overlap, formality that holds across the fit, warmth that agrees with itself, and the layering rules that stop a collar ending up under a hood. Head to toe with the Chintz Chore Coat: $7,865 at retail.