If you are looking for a classic, iconic style with new and modern twists, the trench coat is the perfect option for you. The trench coat has undergone a reinvention in the past few seasons, with designers such as Michael Kors taking the trench coat under their wing and granting it fresh new ones of its own. While the trench coat has an extensive yet oft-mottled history in folklore and fashion, this style now enjoys popularity in its many different incarnations. When stars such as Angelina Jolie show up on the red carpet wearing a leopard-print trench coat paired with jeans and fire-engine red flats and happens to look absolutely smashing, you know this style has arrived, and thousands will be snatching them up the next day in the hopes of looking so fabulous.
Like every tall, dark, and mysterious stranger, the trench coat wasn’t always for everyone. While it is similar to the pea coat and the duffle coat in that it grew in exposure because of its association with the military, the trench coat picked up some unpleasant fans in its history as well. German SS officers incorporated black leather trenches into their images in order to get the desired intimidating and terrifying effect, while school shootings perpetrated by bullied and unpopular students also brought a negative light onto the trench coat, as these students tended to favor the very same style of trench coat, black leather. As a coin toss, the trench coat was also prominent in many comic books and sci-fi stories, which may have helped diminish the appropriateness of the style for a formal or business setting.
However, it was the trench coat’s association with the good guys, the detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Columbo, which kept this style from being miscast or forgotten completely. These associations and images offset the comic book stigma, and kept the trench coat in the running as a fashion do, not a fashion don’t. The trench coat is extremely versatile, one of the only styles that can go from formal settings, such as a night at the theatre or opera, to casual and relaxed settings like stepping out with friends. It is also a very attractive and slim style, with its warmth coming from its length and lining, not any exceptionally thick fabrics or paddings. No matter where you’re going, the trench coat can go where you go.
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