Most parkas earn their keep on warmth alone and designers know it, which is why so many of them stop trying anywhere near the closure. You get a zipper hidden under a flap, or a zipper exposed and doing nothing for the silhouette, and the coat just sits there looking functional and not much else. A well placed button edge changes that completely. It gives structure to the front of the coat, creates a cleaner line from chest to hem, and signals that somebody actually thought about how the thing looks when it is worn open, half open, or fully closed. That is a harder brief than it sounds. We have been looking specifically for parkas where the button placement is considered rather than decorative, where the weight of the fabric justifies the formality of the closure, and where the result works as well over tailoring as it does over a heavy knit. These are the ones that got it right.