When it comes to shopping under time constraint, I do target-shopping. Which meant that I headed straight to Zara, where I know would have somewhat stylish, basic and very affordable coats. Zara didn't let me down and I ended up buying this:
OK, so I have recently seen a LOT of girls in the streets here in London wearing basic coats from Zara, either exactly this one or similar ones. But since I get cold easily, I have already started wearing this in late September, so almost no one was wearing it yet. Oh, and I know the coat looks really not-pretty like that, but it looks really cool with the collar up and the top part wide open (the lapel part.) Oops, rambling off my point. So the white coat did prove out to be really fun. It brightened up my casual outfits and I found it especially fun to wear it with dresses. Unfortunately, the white coat got dirty really easily. I stopped wearing it to lectures after only one lecture because my sitting around in random seats was just too much dirt for my coat to take.
My point is, while I wouldn't spend a huge amount of money on a white coat, I think it's worth trying out a white coat from affordable shops. Think of it as a youthful, cute thing to cheer you and your outfit up on those grey days!