Tailored raincoats for man

“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing” says a well-known British proverb: this is why it is not that difficult to guess what the home of the raincoat is.

The first one was invented in 1823 by the Scottish chemist Charles Mackintosh, who patented a waterproofing system obtained by mixing two woolen fabrics glued with Indian rubber dissolved in naphtha. In the following years the vulcanization came from the United States, which made the process more effective and… less smelly!

In 1895, during the first Anglo-Boer War in South Africa, Thomas Burberry created a large raincoat for British officers, but the raincoats for men acquired its definitive form and enduring reputation only between 1914 and 1918, when it was worn in the muddy trenches of the First World War, and took the name of “Trench coat”.

Made of water repellent fabric – strong enough to withstand even bayonet thrusts – traditionally khaki colour, featuring collar and cuffs fastened with a buckle, a double-breasted design, a belt with D-ring for hanging hand grenades, binoculars, gloves, maps: here is the ancestor of all raincoats.

Since the forties, it has become a star of the noir cinema and has accompanied every investigator worthy of the name. Yet the one worn by Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca” shines more than any other. Unforgettable.

Browse our photogallery, choose your raincoat and defy bad weather, with elegance.