Trench Coat - the 'Ultimate' Thread!

[Trenchfriend]

Hm, simple raincoat?

 

[Hal]

What about this single breasted version worn here by this other action hero:

This is not a trench-coat; a trench-coat is double-breasted and belted. See postings 1513 and 1522. All trench-coats are raincoats, but not all raincoats are trench-coats.

 

[Doctor Damage]

This is not a trench-coat; a trench-coat is double-breasted and belted. See postings 1513 and 1522. All trench-coats are raincoats, but not all raincoats are trench-coats.

True enough, but those single-breasted raincoats were often worn in the WW1 trenches alongside the classic double-breasted versions.

 

[Hal]

True enough, but those single-breasted raincoats were often worn in the WW1 trenches alongside the classic double-breasted versions.

Thanks for this - something I simply didn't know. The single-breasted style is as much a classic as the other, and is especially good in summer and for light rain.

 

[Doctor Damage]

True enough, but those single-breasted raincoats were often worn in the WW1 trenches alongside the classic double-breasted versions.

Thanks for this - something I simply didn't know. The single-breasted style is as much a classic as the other, and is especially good in summer and for light rain.

Trench coats and raincoats were, in WW1, privately purchased by British/Imperial and US officers (and probably some senior NCOs) so they bought whatever they wanted or could afford. Burberry gets all the credit, of course, but Aquascutum was there too, plus dozens of other makers that we don't know about or remember today. The designs, features, shapes, lengths, etc, vary widely in old photos. Only in WW2 did the US Army actually issue what we consider trench coats (the double breasted version) in a standardized design for officers; even so, senior officers and generals often wore whatever they wanted so variations were still common. Basically, if you want to be "authentic" to the early days, i.e. WW1, then anything goes!

 

[Doctor Damage]

^ further to this, here's a most excellent thread (starting page 3):
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/for...onchos-slickers-raincoats-1901-to-1919/page-3

 

[Hal]

...Only in WW2 did the US Army actually issue what we consider trench coats (the double breasted version) in a standardized design for officers...

This was also true of the British Army at that time; the coat label stated "coats, trench" and the coat itself was double-breasted and belted with football-type buttons (like those of the British Warm overcoat) and had a button-in warm lining. By 1960 at the latest it was no longer issued.

 

[Doctor Damage]

This sort of thing always amuses me: here's how Burberry photographs and promotes their coats (below left) and how they actually look (below right).

 

[Doctor Damage]

Prince Edward in a nice trench coat (not Burberry, though).

 

[Hal]

Prince Edward in a nice trench coat (not Burberry, though).

From the position of the "gun-patch" (or whatever it's correctly called) it looks as if the young girl is wearing a coat designed for a boy.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Component parts of a Burberry trench coat, pre-assembly. I've never been able to figure out what book this is from.

 

[Tiki Tom]

At 85 years of age, legendary newsman Dan Rather defines gravitas and dignified style in his classic trench coat.

 

[Doctor Damage]

^ That's an awesome photo, Tom. It's a nice, roomy coat, not a short skinny modern one. I like that throat latch, too. Once upon a time one could get trench coats in a variety of colours, not just tan or black like today.

 

[Seb Lucas]

There used to be lots of trench coat options available right here in Melbourne - various greys, black, navy and various khaki, brown, bone and tan versions. Now its hard to even find a single trench coat in any colour. I guess people under 40 don't wear them. I generally wear a raincoat in wool gabardine from the early 60's, much like Tintin's above but in dove grey.

 

[ProteinNerd]

@Seb Lucas They are definitely in this coming winter Seb, they are just more the slim shorter style that tbh, looks more like a long peacoat than a trench.

 

[Hal]

Now its hard to even find a single trench coat in any colour. I guess people under 40 don't wear them.

The impracticality of such short coats has often been commented on.

I generally wear a raincoat in wool gabardine from the early 60's, much like Tintin's above but in dove grey.

In the UK, wool gabardine raincoats (sometimes with detachable winter linings) were for many men the only outer coat they possessed in the 1940s and 1950s, and (in navy blue) were universal schoolboy wear. Without the lining they were useful as spring and autumn coats, but too warm for even the British summer as rain protection. Michael A. has shown pictures of one in the "show us your overcoats" thread.

 

[Seb Lucas]

@Seb Lucas They are definitely in this coming winter Seb, they are just more the slim shorter style that tbh, looks more like a long peacoat than a trench.

View attachment 72991 View attachment 72992

Not sure I'd count those.

 

[Seb Lucas]

The impracticality of such short coats has often been commented on.

Not sure what short coats you are referring to, Hal.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Not sure I'd count those.

+1

 

[Hal]

Not sure what short coats you are referring to, Hal.

The short coats (posting 1538) you say you're not sure you'd count as trench-coats (I wouldn't either).
Perhaps this comment has been made in another forum; but the impracticality I refer to here is that with such short coats there is basically no protection to the knees and lower legs from cold and wet; and that if the coat is very waterproof, rain will run off it on to the trousers.