From WWI battlefields to fashion icon: The remarkable history of the Trench Coat

During the late nineteenth century, the British clothing industry experimented with lighter and more weatherproof fabrics.

In 1879, Thomas Burberry, founder of the Burberry company, developed gabardine, a tightly woven fabric made from cotton or worsted wool, which kept out rain and allowed air to circulate.

He patented the fabric in 1888, which gave him exclusive rights to make it at a time when Aquascutum, another British clothing company, had already supplied waterproof wool clothing to officers during the Crimean War, though these early designs were more like capes or overcoats than later trench coats.

Gabardine offered a significant improvement over the heavy rubberised coats then used for protection in wet weather.

In 1901, Burberry presented a design for an officer’s raincoat to the War Office, which influenced later military garments, while Aquascutum produced similar versions for army use.

These coats featured double-breasted fronts, storm flaps, and belts with D-rings that allowed officers to attach map cases, grenades, or other equipment.

Epaulettes provided a place where officers could display rank insignia, and deep pockets created space for maps, binoculars, and other field items.

The coats were made in khaki to blend into muddy terrain, and they were never issued to enlisted men, since officers were expected to purchase them privately, which made them a kind of rank and social standing. 

When the First World War began in 1914, privately purchased trench coats became common among officers on the Western Front.

In the waterlogged and dangerous environment of the trenches, their knee-length cut kept mud from soaking trousers and also allowed freedom of movement.

The fabric’s ability to handle bad weather proved vital in the persistent damp of northern France and Belgium, and the name “trench coat” came directly from its widespread use among soldiers stationed in those front-line positions. 

After the war ended, the trench coat passed from military service into civilian wardrobes.

Many former officers continued to wear them, and the coat became a familiar sight in cities of Europe and North America.

The popular image of trench coats as spy clothing developed mainly through fiction, though some intelligence agents did wear them, particularly those with military backgrounds.

In the interwar period, novels and films began to present characters who wore trench coats as skilled agents or mysterious agents who moved through city streets and met in hidden places.

Later, real-life Cold War figures, such as British double agent Kim Philby in the 1940s and 1950s, were photographed in trench coats, which reinforced the image.

Then, during the Second World War, some members of the British Special Operations Executive wore trench coats, though their clothing usually matched local civilian fashions in occupied Europe.

Still, the association with secrecy and danger grew, especially as films of the era showed trench coats in such roles.

In the film noir era of the 1940s and 1950s, American cinema gave the trench coat another identity.

On the silver screen, actors such as Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942) presented the image of the lone detective or hard-edged investigator.

Also, European films, such as Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï (1967), continued the tradition, and they used the coat to convey a sense of mystery. 

In the decades after the Second World War, the trench coat began to evolve as fashion trends changed.

During the 1960s, designers started to introduce new fabrics in varied lengths and bolder colours, and they moved away from the traditional khaki or stone shades.

Synthetic blends allowed for lighter fabrics and a greater range of colours, and versions appeared in navy and beige alongside more vivid tones that appealed to the fashion-conscious markets of London, Paris, and New York.

Under the influence of the decade’s slim tailoring and modern shapes, the trench coat became a key piece for both men and women.

Fashion houses such as Burberry and Aquascutum promoted it as a versatile garment that could be worn open over dresses or suits, with the belt tied loosely at the back for a sense of simple style.

Photographs of actors, musicians, and models in trench coats during this time made it look both stylish and useful.

Figures such as Alain Delon brought it into men’s high fashion, while in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Audrey Hepburn wore a slim-cut fashion version of the trench coat in one of the film’s most memorable scenes, which created a famous image of style that captured audiences around the world.

By the decade’s end, the trench coat had completed its journey from a military necessity to a staple of high-end fashion. 

In modern culture, the coat can look professional in a business setting, look elegant in evening wear.

Designers from the 1980s and 1990s, such as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood, created experimental versions, and this helped it keep changing with the times.

It also became part of certain subcultural styles: punk and goth, and later cyberpunk, and each group remade its shape to suit distinct identities.

While the long leather coats worn in The Matrix (1999) were not trench coats in the traditional sense, the film contributed to the garment’s pop-culture profile, as did regular appearances in television series like Doctor Who. 

For practical purposes, it continues to function in much the same way it did in the trenches.

The length protects the wearer from rain and wind without restricting movement, and the pockets remain as functional as they were for officers who carried maps and gear.

From its beginnings on the battlefields of the early twentieth century to its place in the wardrobes of today, the trench coat has maintained its reputation as both a reliable coat and a style classic.