Love Gigi Hadid's Floor-Length Coat? Here's How to Keep It Clean

Lately we’ve seen some killer coats hitting the street style scene (YAS, fall). Recently, Gigi Hadid donned a positively primal cheetah print Roberto Cavalli floor-length duster for an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. The model-of-the-moment was also recently spotted in another floor-length topper that looked chic AF with a luxe tracksuit. But right after the obvious “where do we get one?!,” another question occurred to us: How the heck to you keep it clean?

Here’s the thing: Fashion is certainly not always practical. A floor-skimming coat may look chic as all hell in a paparazzi photo or runway snap, but IRL, we’re cringing at the thought of all the dirt and grime you’ll inevitably pick up when you step out into the city. Last we checked, very few of us can pull off the whole dirt thing. So to put our filth fears to rest, we brought in the big guns. “We take laundry very seriously around here,” Lindsey Boyd, co-founder of The Laundress, tells Allure. “We have customers contact us with some of the most embarrassing stains for them because they trust us.” In Boyd’s world, a little dirt on a ground-grazing hem is nothing, and frankly, comes with the territory.

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Before you ask (because we already did), there’s no magic laundry potion that you can use to prevent your extra lengthy coat from ever getting dirty in the first place. “There’s really nothing you can do to pretreat or prevent a stain like this, but there are definitely ways to take care of it after,” says Boyd.

To do that, the magic words are: spot treat. Rather than taking your coat to the dry cleaner every time you wear it, you can most likely avoid washing the whole garment by simply treating the tinged area. “We have something specifically in our line that we made to spot treat things that are most commonly dry-cleaned. Our Wash and Stain Bar is our go-to for everything, including the kind of dirt stains you’re going to be picking up on the floor,” says Boyd.

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Watch Gigi on the set of her December cover shoot:

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For stained suede, fur, or leather, Boyd recommends consulting with an expert on those types of specific fabrics, but anything wool or silk you can probably handle yourself—just steer clear of the dryer. “For a wool coat, we would use a shampoo-based product that is specifically formulated to bring out the natural oils in the yarn,” she says. “Always wash with cold water and never put the garment in the dryer. You can either use the delicate cycle on your washing machine or you can hand-wash, although that would be tough for a floor-length coat. Either hang or lay flat to dry.”

Follow Boyd’s laundering rules and you’ll stay stylish, not soiled. Just make sure to stay away from puddles.

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