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Trench Coat Chronicles

9/18/2016

22 Comments

 
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​Of course it’s not spring, but never one to hold to tradition, I’ve been doing a ton of extra cleaning… recycling, re-purposing and re-imagining of stuff.   
 
This includes selling a very cool coffee table made with legs from a 1920s stove (we still have three other tables);
a complete cleanse of my file cabinet (where I discovered a forgotten letter from movie star Van Heflin), and free-cycling many yards of denim and corduroy fabric (new slipcovers involved here).  
 
Then there’s this other item. 
 
It’s hanging in my closet, but I haven’t put it on for at least five years.  Yeah, I’ve been saying goodbye to it for a while now, but now I’m almost there, almost ready to pass it on to its next owner.  
 
It’s my trench coat.  And if I seem pretty attached to it, I am. 
 
That’s because, for those who don’t know, owning such a coat once upon a time wasn’t just about owning sturdy 
outerwear for inclement weather. 
 
Nope.  It was part of the uniform that made me a journalist. 
 
After all, Edward R. Murrow—one of the most esteemed reporters of the last century—wore a trench coat while broadcasting dispatches from London during World War II.  It seemed that everyone on the 60 Minutes team had trench coats, too:  I remember watching the late Mike Wallace, Morley Safer and Bob Simon chasing down bad guys in theirs. They’ve also been essential to the wardrobes of famous female correspondents, a list that includes Barbara Walters,
Diane Sawyer and Lara Logan.
 
The trench coat has served fictional muckrakers as well.
 
Lou Grant, the gruff newspaper editor played to perfection by Ed Asner on television, had a trench coat, even in sunny Los Angeles.  And in the 1950s TV series Adventures of Superman, star George Reeves conveniently grabbed his trench coat out of Lois Lane’s car when, disguised as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, a bomb ripped his clothes off. 
 
I got mine—a woman’s model made by London Fog, beige and double breasted with a removable plaid liner—sometime in college and after the circus life. (Most recently, the Seattle based manufacturer became famous again in Mad Men.)  It was a mindful buy, made not long before I received my journalism degree and high-tailed it to New York City.  Given that this was long before the Internet and imported clothes from China, the purchase took place early one evening at Robinson’s department store in Beverly Hills, and was made in the United States.  I paid what was then considered a pretty penny for it, too, probably in the $75 range.    
 
Putting it on, I felt that I had arrived.
 
The coat traveled with me to Manhattan, where I did some freelance work (landing bylines in People, Working Mother and Ms.) while concurrently working as an intern for McCall’s magazine.  It then rode the subway with me to a small publishing house (in the same building as The New Yorker!), where I was employed as an editor. There were a handful of other writing gigs after that, but finally, it hung in my office at Columbine, the in-house publication at CBS; there; I was a staff writer.   
 
When I returned to California four years later, the trench coat was still in great shape.
 
It was beside me when I was hired to write a couple of lifestyle articles for a teen magazine on the Sunset Strip, and next for a movie-oriented public relations firm.  It then accompanied me to the West Coast bureau of Screen International, a British film trade magazine, where I did a whole lot of interviews in the field, as well as attending hundreds of sneak screenings and more than a few press conferences. 
 
After a stint with a syndicated entertainment columnist, then a move to a tabloid magazine, the trench coat and I stumbled into television production.  There, both of us spent nearly a decade at Unsolved Mysteries.  (Come to think of it, host Robert Stack was fond of wearing his trench coat on camera.)  
 
From the department of You Can Learn Something New Every Day, it wasn’t until I began researching this post that I learned it wasn’t reporters who made the trench coat so popular.
 
In fact, the coat was made for, duh, fighting in the trenches.
 
Designed as an efficient alternative to the heavy serge coats worn by British and French soldiers in World War I, its invention is claimed by both Burberry and Aquasctum, with the latter’s claim dating back to the 1850s.  As for Burberry, founder Thomas Burberry submitted a design for an Army officer’s raincoat to the United Kingdom War Office in 1901. 
 
Then, during what became known as The Great War, modifications were made: shoulder straps to attach epaulettes or other rank insignia, and a D-ring for fastening map cases, swords and perhaps hand grenades to the coat’s belt.  The advent of World War II only made the coats more popular.  British military personnel continued to wear them, but now other soldiers from other nations, notably the United States and Soviet Union, wore similar designs.  Many veterans returning to civilian life kept the coats, and made them fashionable for both men and women.  This, of course, included globe-trotting reporter Edward R. Murrow.  
 
So undeniably, the trench coat has a lineage that is noble and distinguished.   
 
But somewhere along the way, it stopped working for me. 
 
Some of this definitely had to do with becoming a mom; my daughter’s early years saw me in sensible sweat pants and hoodies.  These days, some of it has to do with living in a sweet beach town—a hard-boiled writer’s coat simply doesn’t fit in.  When I do need a coat, I’ll zip up my red or blue parka, even when I’m wearing the occasional dress.
 
And mostly, I don’t wear the trench coat anymore because I’m not the same kind of journalist anymore.   
 
My work now tends to be done at home, with pretty much everything I need waiting on the Internet, or with phone and email interviews.  The days of hopping a plane to chase down folks in person; rushing out the door to interview someone who’s in town for only a day, or traveling long distances for research is pretty much gone. 
 
Then why do I still have the coat? 
 
It’s because I don’t want to give it away to just anyone. 
 
In fact, I’m hoping to gift it to someone who still does, or is longing to do, the writing things I once did. 
 
Perhaps, like I once was, she’ll be a new journalism school grad ready to change a corner of a corner of the world, ready to slay the dragons that journalists need to do, now more than ever, and that the best ones do so well. 
 
I also want that someone to appreciate how much this singular piece of clothing once defined me—and how I hope it will do the same for her.
 
Until then, my trench coat (and the stories that go with it) will remain happily retired in my closet… waiting for a new, and I hope dazzling, set of adventures.       
 
Is there an article of clothing, or another object you own, with an interesting tale behind it?  I look forward to your stories and comments! 
 
P.S. Want to know more about the history of the trench coat?  Check out this detailed article from Smithsonian magazine, at www.smithsonianmag.com/history/trench-coat-made-its-mark-world-war-i-180955397/?no-ist.
 
P.S.S. Today’s celebrities love trench coats, too.  Take a look, at www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/trends/g2926/iconic-trench-coat-fashion/.

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22 Comments
Jackie
9/18/2016 04:09:02 pm

Trench coats are a tres chic staple for the ladies of Paris, whose mode of clothing I adulate. You may want to hang onto it!

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Hilary
9/18/2016 04:16:10 pm

I know, but... well, the rule--which I obviously don't adhere to!--is to get rid of stuff that you haven't worn for a year. I don't think I'll be wearing it anytime soon, and I'd really like it pass it on to a special person. :)

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Larry Grant
9/18/2016 05:48:14 pm

Two special pieces of clothing to mention; my grandfather's Woolrich hunting coat (a year older than I am) and my Danner boots. Both represent many memories and future experiences. I'm not done yet!

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Hilary
9/18/2016 06:05:56 pm

Two good ones, too! xo

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P. Weiman
9/18/2016 06:25:15 pm

I just love your writing!!
Wish i was as creative as you are.
Love,
P.

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Hilary
9/18/2016 08:47:02 pm

Awww, thanks Patrice! I know you probably don't remember this, but after I left the Marsteller research department, and was working for Ted French, you walked by my desk and asked me if I had a coat for the winter. It was going to be my first winter in New York. I said, "Yes, I do! I have my trench coat! It has a LINING!!" You looked at me, shook your head sadly, and walked away. Ha!

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Susan Jordan
9/18/2016 09:16:41 pm

I was gaga for my trench coats in the mid-80s to early 90s too! I would hang onto it if I were you, and part with two other pieces to make up for it, but that's just my 2¢. I'm sure I have a story about some article of clothing too, but nothing is coming to me right now. I didn't know that about trench coats and the war!

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Hilary
9/18/2016 09:38:48 pm

The Hubster may have an idea about a very deserving journalist-in-training (at his high school) getting it. I will keep you posted! :)

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Cathy
9/19/2016 01:58:54 pm

Back in the 80's I had a redish/orange London Fog raincoat. It went so nicely with a dress and high heals on a rainy East Coast day. But I really don't know what happened to it. I'm sure I moved here with it, but it never rains enough to have such a fancy raincoat. Of course, it would never fit me now anyway, but I really loved having a name brand coat with the removal liner. It went well with my Jordache Jeans too! Boy, to have that 1980's shape again!!! My husband has a wool shirt he still fits into from I think the 1970's or early 80's. Of course I'm jealous he still fits into it. He also has his "Letter" sweater from high school (he graduated in 1966). He doesn't wear that one. Hillary, thanks for the trip down memory lane.

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Hilary
9/19/2016 05:17:57 pm

YES--you totally get it! I think if I wore my London fog with heels and a dress in this town I'd be followed as a suspicious "person of interest" by law enforcement! We may be moving to a more rainy climate in a few years, but it's a SLO kind of place/vibe, where a fancy raincoat would still look out of place. I am so glad your husband doesn't wear his "Letter" sweater anymore. That might be a little odd! : )

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Jim Nolt
9/20/2016 07:38:01 am

Hilary, you mention Lou Grant wearing a trenchcoat... even in sunny Los Angeles. I love the old Perry Mason series, but it often seemed odd to me to see Paul Drake sporting such a coat, also in the City of Angels. It seemed unnecessary to me, but I suppose it was a way to reinforce his identity as a private investigator.

And thinking of Superman (as I often do) Jimmy Olsen donned a trenchcoat to complete his Humphrey Bogart impersonation in "Semi-Private Eye."

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Hilary
9/20/2016 04:44:31 pm

It was absolutely a way to reinforce that, since Humphrey Bogart wore a tench coat, too, I think as private investigator Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon. And we mustn't forget TV's Columbo starring Peter Falk--he played a homicide detective with the Los Angeles PD. All of this tells me one thing: if I had decided to become a detective instead of a writer, I would have purchased the exact same coat. :)

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Tracy
9/20/2016 09:33:35 am

The adventures of Hilary and her trench coat. Fun read!

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Hilary
9/20/2016 04:45:15 pm

With many more exciting adventures to come, for both me and the coat, although no longer a twosome! :)

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leslie spoon
9/20/2016 01:39:45 pm

Hilary In the late 80`s my mom bought me a beautiful long black trench coat. It cost a lot. I stopped wearing it around 2000. When I would wear it in a store people would look at me like I may have a gun hidden under my coat. I remember someone in the news had a coat on like mine and shot some people. I finally gave it up last year.

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Hilary
9/20/2016 04:49:43 pm

Yeah, the trench coat--especially the dark ones--does have that connotation as well. And remember the coat was also referred in the negative re: the Columbine shooting. (Here's a great article on the reasons behind that shooting, which have NOTHING to do with the popular myth, and absolutely nothing to do with trench coats!...http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2004/04/the_depressive_and_the_psychopath.html)

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Kari Schultz
9/28/2016 07:04:06 pm

As I was reading your article, I imagined those very same people wearing those coats. I do recall and remember them all in their trenchcoats. Brings back great memories for me of course. What a wonderful history this trenchcoat has provided you.

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Hilary
9/30/2016 08:38:32 pm

It's definitely one of those articles of clothing that is so much more than an article of clothing! Audrey Hepburn also wore the coat well, by the way. :)

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kerri
11/5/2016 02:52:41 pm

My most treasured piece of clothing was my dad's flight jacket that was oh-so-cool, and happened to fit me. I love him so much, that wearing it made me feel so happy. I don't know what happened to it. It is gone, sadly. I will never forget it.

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Hilary
11/5/2016 03:26:26 pm

You never know... it could turn up SOMEWHERE. :) Larry has his grandfather's plaid hunting jacket. It's in our garage and he says he will always have it. : )

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Kevin Fagan link
5/6/2017 10:35:13 pm

Yep, I've got a trench coat too... wore it when I was an editor, not much any more. I find the kind of reporting I do on crime, disaster and homelessness/poverty doesn't lend itself to that kind of clothing. But it's a nice piece of gear to have when the rains hit hard.

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Hilary
5/7/2017 03:42:07 pm

You're right, but I have a warmer raincoat I wear these days. Of course, Dan Rather pretty much worships Murrow (as he should!), so I wonder if he wears his trench coat as a sort of tribute to his idol. Which, in my book, is A Very Good Thing. :)

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    Hilary Roberts Grant

    Journalist, editor, filmmaker, foodie--and a clown! 
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