Is there anyone who doesn't own a trench coat? It has to be the number one coat ever produced, and the variations on its theme are now endless.Amazing for a garment with such humble, yet courageous, beginnings. Who would have thought something which hasn't changed a lot since it was released in the First World War for the soldiers at the front would have become such a wardrobe staple. Aquascutum invented it, then shortly afterwards, Burberry started up as a rival.
Aquascutum might have helped the British Army win the First World War, but Burberry has won the battle of the trench coat giants. While Aquascutum is floundering in the shell hole of the recession, Burberry is marching onwards, armed with some nifty design, marketing and a steady flow of tourists all eager to own a Burberry trench.
As a parting shot at its Regent Street rival, Burberry has delivered its killer blow, in the form of a marketing campaign. Photographic evidence that it has conquered the world by way of a double breasted showerproof overcoat.
As I write, pictures are flooding in to its specially dedicated website, the 'Art of the Trench.' People from all walks of life, all oddly photogenic, beautiful and predominately young, flashing their checked linings with abandon.
Burberry has had the Sartorialist, Scott Schulman pounding the streets across the four corners of the globe, but mostly London and New York, to find these customers.
Just look at them. It's enough to make you just go to London right now and try one on to feel the stylishness pulse through you.
The odd thing is, visit a Burberry store and you won't find anyone buying those coats looking remotely as good as in the pictures. Just overweight German tourists and balding businessmen from the Middle East. How's that for bursting your style bubble?
And that's when you realise, the fantasy is often a lot nicer looking than the reality.
For Burberry, that's the price of victory.
PS: The picture is of Lizzie in an M&S trench coat.
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