AJ
Dear Lorraine,
I have been a fan of mackintoshes since teenage years, especially trenchcoats, and always wanted my mum to buy a gaberdine school mac. She always refused!
It was great when I started work because I could then buy whatever I liked. And buy I did ! I am nearly 50 now (a bloke) and at the last count I have owned 34 coats of various styles and materials. I still enjoy wearing a 'normal' trenchcoat to work, currently a Burberry or Aquascutum.
Most of my coats are rubberised cotton. Heavy double-texture riding macs are a favorite - off-white - as well as trenchcoats. My wife complains about the cost of course but seems to understand that once I have seen a coat I like I simply must have it.
The best one so far was a black SBR long trenchcoat. This was never worn outside for fear of being seen by anyone I knew. This leads me to my point.........does anybody actually take any notice of someone wearing a mackintosh? Is it only fellow mac-lovers who look, , at the few mackintoshes you do see in the streets - possibly in envy - or do you think 'normal' people guess that something is going on and think that the person in the SBR trenchcoat is having a better time in the rain than normal?
Also, do you think other people notice the smell of the rubber?
I used to work in London and often travelled by train wearing a heavy rubberised
cotton riding mac (whenever I could pluck up the courage!). I could smell it
of course, but do you think others would too? or do you think they would have
had no idea what the smell was or where it was coming from?
One other thing I would like to mention is the way raincoats are worn nowdays,
especially by men. There is nothing worse than seeing raincoats worn unbuttoned,
especially old scruffy coats and whoever started the idea of fastening the belt
at the back of the coat should be shot. Raincoats should only be worn smartly
buttoned and properly belted. That means properly buckled with the end tucked
neetly away hrough the loops provided. Not knotted and no twisted belts either.
I think you get the picture.
Anyway I would be glad to hear what you and others think about the perception
others have of seeing people in proper mackintoshes. Should I get out in in
the streets in my SBR without worrying about people looking? Do you think they
would look? Or am I worried because I know I would be looking in envy whenever
I ever see someone else wearing a good mac?
Look forward to seeing other opinions on your fantastic site.
Keep up the good work.
Regards
AJ
Dear AJ
Thank you for your letter.
I'm a bit disturbed that you think people who spread wrong ideas about how a mackintosh should be worn are to be shot. Surely we of all people want others to think that what we wear and how we wear it is up to us!
About aroma: I think the aroma of a good mackintosh is noticable by anyone in the close vicinity, but I don't think people mind at all, or not very much. They are mostly I think relaxed about the fact that some things have a smell attached to them, and that mackintoshes of a certain old-fashioned kind are amongst them. The key thing I think is that for people not touched by their magic, mackintoshes don't have a suggestive smell - I don't think the smell to most people makes you seem 'tarty' if you wear one (with the exception of women wearing trenchcoats in a certain way) . It's just a smell, like a dog has a bit of a smell.
It's the same if people just see you in an SBR mac. I think they do notice, but don't think of your mackintosh like you think of it yourself! (Maybe they think of you as a bit militaristic, a bit right-wing.) I think most people find the idea of a raincoat carrying an erotic charge so far outside their experience that it just doesn't occur to them when they encounter one in the street or in a railway carriage.
It's good of you to want not to give offence to others, but I'm sure you won't be doing that by wearing an old-fashioned and perhaps foreign-looking mackintosh. It's also true that we don't relish being thought a weirdo. But maybe we should try and not be too bothered about what other people think: hoping very much they won't reach for their guns.
Lorraine.
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