10 S T Y L E
International Herald Tribune
Tuesday, May 4, 2004
Welcome back: Reincarnation of the trench
Clockwise from top left: The actress Kim Cattrall in orange Michael Kors; Charlotte Gainsbourg in classic trench; Comptoir des Cotonniers and Versace in Paris; a Burberry capelet; E2 for Ramosport; Comptoir; Madonna in Chanel tweed, and Gwen Stefani in Dior.
By Jessica Michault
PARIS
he fashion world likes nothing
T more that a makeover. And
this season it has decided that
a tried-and-true friend needed
a whole new look: The trench coat has
gotten a face-lift.
Banished to the back of the closet
are the classic beige gabardine coats
made famous by foreign correspon-
dents and clueless
Columbo and Inspector Clouseau
detectives.
wouldn’t have a clue about how to
wear the new trench.
Designers from around the world
have gone back to the drawing board to
transform this classic into a modern
must-have, while maintaining its time-
less connotations. Using new materi-
als, bright new colors, bold prints and
creative embellishments, the trench
a A
coat has confidently stepped into the
21st century.
As with most fashion movements,
stylish stars are leading the way. From
movie premières and gala charity
balls, where trench coats in velvet or
taffeta are favored, to trips to the local
Starbucks, where a trench in gilded
leather or polka-dot print will do, ce-
lebrities are wearing them around the
clock.
The look can be found on any busy
cosmopolitan street where hip women,
young and old alike, are embracing the
return of the trench coat in all its rein-
ca rnations.
Originally the trench coat was worn
to protect the fighting British from the
cold and wet conditions of warfare in
the trenches of World War I, which is
where the coat gets its name. And for a
long time this functionality kept the
trench coat in the British countryside,
where it was put to good use on hunt-
ing trips and walks in the fields.
It was only in the 1970s that the
trench coat made inroads into fashion.
The iconic images taken by Helmut
Newton of naked women wrapped in
trenches transformed the coats’ sub-
text. By mixing the old images of the
coat (classy, sophisticated, refined)
with the new (sexy, seductive, unin-
hibited), it became a fashion staple —
but one that kept the classic look.
In fact, it was all about what was or
wasn’t underneath the coat that made
it so intriguing.
One designer who has inherited the
right to transform the trench coat is
Christopher Bailey, the head designer
at Burberry, the company that essen-
tially invented it.
For spring he has cut back the trench
to a capelet while keeping the distinct-
ive epaulette and shoulder flap that are
WireImage (Cattrall, Gainsbourg, Madonna, Stefani); Jessica Michault/IHT; Christopher Moore/Andrew Thomas (Burberry)
its trademarks. And hot off the runway
for autumn, Bailey has designed a
transparent blue PVC version, taking
forward the patent-leather look of the
’80s trench.
‘‘The trench coat has become an
iconic classic piece that not only
works in a functional way but is able
to be worn in every situation, whether
it be formal or casual,’’ says Bailey.
s with any iconic piece of cloth-
A ing, the strength of the trench is
that its image can be interpreted
in many ways.
For spring there is the classically cut
Perry Ellis trench updated by using
periwinkle blue and barber-pole-stripe
cuffs.
Lanvin has on offer a white silk taf-
feta trench with a wrap-around belt
that can be tied in a bow at the front.
And Chanel mixes two classics by
adding a trim of its classic tweed to a
trench.
For the French designers Michèle
and Olivier Chatenet, the husband-
and-wife team behind the name E2, the
trench coat is linked to the famous
women who wear them.
‘‘Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich,
of course, come to mind,’’ says Michèle
Chatenet. ‘‘In a more special way for us,
Romy Schneider as a prostitute in a
Claude Sautet movie called ‘Max et les
Ferrailleurs’ — black-patent trench
coat and a little black ribbon around
the neck — unforgettable!’’
Bailey agrees that the famous wom-
en who wear trench coats have helped
it garner a place alongside the little
black dress in the pantheon of style.
‘‘My immediate thoughts of a woman
in a trench coat are Audrey Hepburn,
Charlotte Rampling, Charlotte Gains-
bourg — strong, confident with a
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timeless style.’’
This spring E2 collaborated with
Ramosport to create a woman’s trench
coat embellished with eyelets punched
through the trim and cuffs. It has been
such a hit that E2 and Ramosport will
team up again to create a line of E2
trench coats for men — a first for
Ra mosport.
Once again, fashionable women have
raided the closet of the men in their
lives (think tuxedos), transforming a
functional piece of clothing into some-
thing sexy, fun and classy.
At a time in fashion where the line
that defines what a woman or a man
can wear is blurring, there is no better
item to have at hand than a trench
coat.
And now that the trench is for all sea-
sons and reasons, you don’t even have
to pray for rain.
International Herald Tribune