Ode to a Black Raincoat

Some time ago now, Gentle Reader, I fell in love with a coat. Fortunately for me it was practical, for it was a rain jacket that packed small without wrinkling but was still relatively warm, it was both modern at retro feeling, and it was Christmas. So the Mum bought it for me. Yay, mums!

It doesn't look like much on the hanger but once put on it has this great noir feel to it.

This coat has done me proud. It's gone all over the world with me, even through a spontaneous blizzard (hello, Seattle). It dresses up any given outfit. It has a zipper front (so it fits over the rack) and a sash belt (so it nips in at the waist). It's a good length, I could have done with bellow the knee and I might have opted for camel or taupe, not black, but black was what they had.

Dan Sawyer photo shoot at Balticon 2009

With my publisher in Australia in 2010

So the look of this jacket is quite retro, even though I got it new.

1940s  Timeless Vixen Vintage; 1940s Day Dress

1940s; 1942

1948 Mainbocher The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1950 Christian Dior “New-York” via The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; 1952 Charles James The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1952; 1957

And here's one street image.