Trench: Outerwear for a cool summer
We tell about trends from podiumthat can be adapted for your wardrobe in the next six months. This season, a topical alternative to bomber and light coats is a trench coat. In summer, in the Russian realities, it can be worn just like that, and in a cooler season - with linings. Like the hoodie, thanks to its versatility, trench coats from year to year appear on the catwalk - we find out why, almost two hundred years later, this garment is reinterpreted by a variety of brands, from the avant-garde Comme des Garçons to the elegant Michael Kors.
How it all began
Like many things in modern wardrobe, the development of the first trench was associated with military needs. And although there is no doubt that the first such cloak was invented in rainy Britain, there are two versions of his invention: the brands Burberry and Aquascutum fight for the right to be called the first.
Aquascutum claims that the first prototype of a trench coat made of waterproof fabric was made specifically for the officers who participated in the Crimean War in 1853. The Burberry company believes that the history of the cloak is directly related to their founder, Thomas Burberry, who in 1901 proposed the design of outerwear for the military from its patented gabardine fabric, durable and frictionless. In any case, the trench coat was designed to serve the officers - hence its classic details: shoulder straps, turn-down collar and yoke.
The cinema brought the first national popularity to the trench coat: the hero Humphrey Bogart appears in the raincoat of Aquascutum in the film "Casablanca" (1942), which the company is still proud of for some reason. They wore a trench and Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany" (1961), and Alain Delon in the movie "Samurai" (1967). The list of film images with the participation of a trench coat (for example, such) is really impressive. Trench itself changed little until around the 80s. It was during the days of power-dressing that square shoulders appeared and variants of free, long raincoats, imitating men's. And already in the 90s, everyone wore such coats: both supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington, and bank clerks.
Today the trench coat seems to be rethought again. A significant event was the appearance of its next species in the spring-summer show Bottega Veneta. However, the main role in this was played not by a thing, but by a model - a seventy-three-year-old actress Lauren Hutton, who later appeared in the brand’s advertising campaign. At random, the trench has become a symbol of anti-ageism in fashion - affecting one of the main macro trends of our time.
How trench rethought
For the sake of justice, for the whole of its two hundred year history, trench coats have not disappeared anywhere - much more interesting is how they changed. In 1979, the hero Dustin Hoffman in the movie "Kramer vs. Kramer" discusses the purchase of a Burberry trench with his boss. The cloak here serves as a luxury item, a symbol of success. Today, the trench coat of the British brand is already an archaic marker of a well-off lifestyle, although creative director Christopher Bailey who came to the fashion house at the beginning of zero and drew the attention of a young audience to him.
In 2017, from the first version of trench coat there is little left. The most "classic" version is still possible to see with designers, who tend to simple, uncomplicated things that most people can understand - but even Michael Kors has either a non-traditional pink trench coat or an asymmetrical cut with a long belt. Trenchcoat is one of the favorite things of the creative director of the brand Demna Gvasalia, who reinterprets it in almost every collection. Surely this is an unspoken tribute to the brand Martin Margiela, in which he once worked: raincoats of the most unusual forms and decor were in the brand's DNA. In the latest Vetements collection, which could be called an ode uniform, a trench coat appears on the girl, who has a silk scarf around her neck and a moped helmet in her hand. The trench coat (ironically, the thing that was traditionally considered to be British) as a satire on the marketing concept of "French" is obvious. In Balenciaga under his jurisdiction such a raincoat is in several versions: from traditional materials and from leather.
In the spring-summer men's collection Craig Green, perhaps the most interesting young male designer whose clothes are worn by girls, the trench coat is one of the key things. He seemed to be taken apart and assembled again - deliberately sloppy and with details that suddenly turned out to be "superfluous." Another young talent, brand designer Claudia Li, also has a trench coat tailored in a new way. Thanks to the exaggerated volume, it looks more like a robe with cuts on the shoulders.
The asymmetry, cuts, exaggerated shoulder line (rounded or square in the style of power dressing and the women's office wardrobe of the 80s), too long or wide belts, bright colors - just what you should bet on when buying a new raincoat. And, of course, it should be noted that today the free silhouette definitely wins against fitted and shortened ones.
What to wear
The popularity of a trench coat, like jeans, is explained by its versatility: it will look equally appropriate on a walk in the park and on a chic summer party. For example, at the Tibi show, the trench coat was combined with a bright yellow maxi dress, another hit of the summer wardrobe, Creatures of the Wind with a ski jacket, and in the Joseph cruise collection, in general with pajama pants. When choosing a set with a raincoat can and should be a fantasy. Training, dresses in sequins, hoodie, tight knit dresses, maxi-sundresses - a little deliberately exaggerated form of the trench coat of the "new model" will endure everything next to them.
As for shoes - the possible combinations here are also mass. Dion Lee proposes to create with its help monochrome images - with wide trousers in tone and white rough sandals, similar to orthopedic, Marni - with pointed-toe shoes on a flat sole, and Balenciaga - with brown "fishing" ankle boots. Ostromodnye accessories like caps, straw baskets, long belts, huge monochairs and waist bags will only make the image with a trench better, more modern and complete.
Photo: John L. Sullivan, Burberry, Totokaelo, Balenciaga, M. Martin
