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Rubber Anorak

In the 1978 film The Class of Miss MacMichael, Glenda Jackson wears her thick, yellow and blue, hooded rubber anorak of that era to terrific effect.

As you may be aware, these yellow and blue, unisex, hooded rubber anoraks were manufactured in Germany and sold there through chain stores such as typically Kaufhof.
 
They were a common sight in our cities such as London in the 1970's, usually identifying the wearer immediately as being a German visitor / tourist.
 
Tragically the material perishes and has not survived, going instead, as you said, "onto the coatrack in the sky" !
 
Kindest regards,

Richard.

Dear Richard

Thanks for nominating the film, and for this interesting observation. No, I actually didn't know they came from Germany, but wherever they came from I do remember them on UK streets - and by no means just in London. Aren't these the original 'grasshoppers'? I thought called in German 'Friesennerz'? I read on the website with that name:

Friesennerz is the german name for a very special kind of rainwear: a yellow rubber raincoat with a blue backing. You can turn the yellow side inside out so that you show the blue side to the public, while the yellow rubberized side is facing your skin. The name consists of "Friesen" and "nerz" and is a joke. The Friesen are the people at the coast to the northern sea in germany, "nerz" is the german word for mink. A "Friesennerz" is the best clothing of these people.... ' Friesennerz, accessed 280808.

The rubber was not always heavy though in the macs I know about - sometimes really light, and though yellow/blue was the 'classic' colour-way, I'm sure there were others too? They were a great feature ... !

Any more info would be more than welcome! Thanks so much for writing.

Best

Lorraine

 

Richard has added:

I can also tell you that this design of unisex, yellow rubber & blue anorak was fully reversible, so that the blue side could be worn on the outside, with blue pockets & blue hood etc, with the yellow inside.

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