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I have a really great coat

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Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

17:04 / 18.03.02

It's my now deceased grandfather's overcoat from the naval academy in Maryland. It's black, reaches down to about mid-shin, made of compressed wool, and weighs roughly twenty pounds. It's reeeeeally warm, and I can wear it with a suit and not look silly and still be comfortable. And it looks sharp (although I'm still not sure how I feel about the large gold buttons with the navy insignia).

And the best part is, it has deep pockets. But you can't tell they're there, 'cause it's got slits just above the inside pockets that are in essence holes in the coat that look like pockets, making the casual observer think the "pockets" are just clever imposters. Fools!

And it's got my grandfather's number in the lining. I'm not sure what the number was for, but it's there, and it adds a mysterious quality to it.

I can't think of a coat I'd rather have, and I bet you can't either. Ha.

ONLY NICE THINGS

17:08 / 18.03.02

Well - let's see.

My 3/4 length Dexter Wong black rubberr greatcoat, with velcro fastening.

Or my 3/4 length British Aviator's coat, incredibly old, thick leather with fake fur lining, both warmer and heavier than, I think, anything I have ever seeen in my *life*, and more than adequate as a blanket.

I did have a naval coat that sounds rather like yours, though, and it was indeed mighty. Wonder what happened to it? I think I sent it to be dry-cleaned and forgot where I sent it.

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

17:15 / 18.03.02

My painted leather biker's jacket, just about the most distressed bit of leather you're ever likely to see. The Ministry's Psalm 69 album cover painted on the back, done by a guy called jinx in return for an eighth. Been everywhere with me, next to no lining. Sadly after 10 years it has to be put out to pasture, though I don't think I could ever bare to throw it away but at 28 I really can't be going around wearing such an item of clothing. So onto the back of the door until my mid-life crisis.

17:18 / 18.03.02

did it just get cold in hee, or is it just me?

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

17:29 / 18.03.02

quote:Originally posted by The Haus under the Ocean:
My 3/4 length Dexter Wong black rubberr greatcoat, with velcro fastening.

Sounds nice, but velcro? Bah.

quote:Or my 3/4 length British Aviator's coat, incredibly old, thick leather with fake fur lining, both warmer and heavier than, I think, anything I have ever seeen in my *life*, and more than adequate as a blanket.

Sounds really nice, and like it came from WWI. Open topped bi-planes! I'll bet it's warm, and looks nice with a scarf. But....can you were it with a suit and still look like a million bucks (especially with leather gloves)?

I don't completely understand my fascination for long coats. I dig the flow aspect, which I suppose comes from too many comic books (capes and all).

[ 18-03-2002: Message edited by: Johnny the zenarchist ]

Less searchable M0rd4nt

17:37 / 18.03.02

I have a truly super coat. Full length shiny PVC trenchie, kids. I got it for a fiver in a thrift store; I patched up the elbows with black acrylic and put in a purple satin lining (formerly my dressing-gown, but who's counting?) Think Matrix meets Unbreakable.

My thrift-fu is mighty kickin'. All I need now is some actual buttons.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

17:42 / 18.03.02

Sounds cool. I've never been fond of coats with belts, but my taste is stuck in a different time zone (I'm not sure which one just yet).

17:47 / 18.03.02

My personal shopper cum boyfriend has just got me a bargain black leather (ex Stasi issue, I suspect) coat from ebay but it hasn't yet acquired the reverence due these other mighty garments aforementioned. That will come... I do feel the urge to click my heels together and salute whenever I wear it.

Reminded me ofthis coat talefrom the Guardian, a while back.

17:54 / 18.03.02

My coat is the best. It doesn't double as a blanket, it IS a blanket. Just a rectangle of blankety goodness. mmm... I love it so much I drool on it occationally ('cause how else are you suppose to show a blanket used as a coat affection?).

Less searchable M0rd4nt

18:00 / 18.03.02

quote:Originally posted by Johnny the zenarchist:
I don't completely understand my fascination for long coats. I dig the flow aspect, which I suppose comes from too many comic books (capes and all).

My fascination with long coats comes from never owning a car. Sawn-off leather blousons are all very well in the style mags, but if you're going to be waiting for a bus or walking home in the rain then a trenchie or a duster is your man every time.

Just don't ask me to justify my tailcoat, that's all.

18:15 / 18.03.02

tails never fails. You can eve tie things up in some of them (like cans) a la wedding cruisers and their cars. Not that you couldn't just tape them to your pants... or tape strings to your coat... but... um...

~shrugs~ ~goes home~

18:51 / 18.03.02

I never thought I was into leather in any form, but then I found this beautiful light-camel suede jacket. It's cool. Plus my girlfriend got me a little sock monkey that now hang from the zipper. It's cool in it's own way.

For rainy weather, I have a dark green trench coat. In that, I am just one gas mask away from being Wesley Dodds. "Sleeeep...."

[ 18-03-2002: Message edited by: gridley ]

19:28 / 18.03.02

Mmm... long coats... I agree; driving and overcoats don't mix (guess that's why they invented the carcoat, eh?)

As ZoCher says, I just bought a couple of 1940s/50s East German leather greatcoats off Ebay, £80 the pair. Extra-heavy and buttonless (an ingenious inner belt and hook-and-eye arrangement holds 'em together), my only gripe is that ZoCher's looks better than mine (better condition and darker leather as opposed to my gunmetal grey). Still, I feel like Marlene Dietrich every time I strap myself in...

Also love the Schott leather peacoat I bought four or five years ago from Keylargo in Covent Garden. Authentic naval design but naked cowhide (no idea what that is, but it sounds sexy...).

Most recently, I splashed out (extra-extravagantly, for me) on a long black wool Armani overcoat - which looks great over a suit, hangs just so and is fine enough to be really swirly when the occasion demands.

19:34 / 18.03.02

i have a longish leather jacket thing from barcelona, which people always want to stroke. And apparently it makes me look all grown up.

it's a bit GQ though, I have to be careful each time I wear it that I haven't accidentally put on a chunky roll-neck as well, or I might have to shoot myself

19:41 / 18.03.02

My "SDS Jacket" is a demin jacket with over 150 different political, pseudo-political, non-political, subversive, and weird buttons and pins on it. The coolest one is a metal badge that looks like a policeman's but says "AAA School Saftey Patrol" There are other cool ones as well, such as a little one with a black line drawing of Castro smoking a cigar.

It weighs about 25 pounds.

19:48 / 18.03.02

[idly musing] Hmmm... with the odd exception, this seems to be a competitive boy thang... [/idle musing]

19:59 / 18.03.02

S'funny, isn't it? Remember when you started the Milestone Garments thread? That was all boys, too.

All my coats are very drab. Just like the lady robin.

20:03 / 18.03.02

Persephone the Peahen...

20:07 / 18.03.02

now that you come to mention it, my favourite coat is made from kevlar and tiger sinews, and Henry Rollins signed it with his own blood.

plus it makes my cock look enormous

20:18 / 18.03.02

This whole thread sounds like a Richard Attenborough documentary on mating displays.

I simply duck the entire coat issue, paint my nose blue and my ass fire-engine red.

But if you must know, my coat is Henry Rollins.

[ 18-03-2002: Message edited by: [monkey - greatest sage of all] ]

22:54 / 18.03.02

That reminds me, I was reading this interview with some fashion designer & he had sewn a coat from the ticking of Quentin Crisp's mattress. But he said, he never sold the coat because "everyone who tried on the thing broke out in a horrible rash."

23:54 / 18.03.02

Well, it was mattress ticking...not to mention God only knows what that mattress has been steeped in over the years....

03:00 / 19.03.02

I've got a couple coats of which I'm terribly fond- there's my overcoat, Swedish Military issue, gray, all the buttons have been replaced and I've had to sew it back together with yarn a bunch of times, but it's mine and I love it.

For slightly more temperate weather, I have my leather coat, 3/4 length, which I've had for so long that the leather's incredibly soft, silver buttons and a hook on the lapel so I can close it if it's breezy or I want someone to stop looking down my cleavage.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

08:15 / 19.03.02

quote:Originally posted by Persephone:
S'funny, isn't it? Remember when you started the Milestone Garments thread? That was all boys, too.

*Clears throat meaningfully*

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

08:52 / 19.03.02

My two favourite coats are a long black leather one (Snake Plissken style) that's really fucked and was given to me by my ex-girlfriend (who may or may not have known it was one of the things that attracted me to her the first time we met) and a biker jacket with a Coil "chaosphere projected onto sphere" design on the back (which took me eight hours and a gram and a half of speed to do).
Neither of them make me look particularly butch, though- I think some form of exercise would be needed to work that particular miracle.

08:57 / 19.03.02

I think I hate all my coats. Well I quite like the latest one but I think it makes me look a bit silly. It is a sort of hiking jacket that 40 year olds wear. Lover politely comments that it is just a shade too big. Huge poockets though. Can fit a book, mp3 player, you name it in there and it is unnoticeable.
Before that I had my black one from , erm, River Island. It was alright. Then I was sick on it. Never been the same since.

08:57 / 19.03.02

quote:Originally posted by Mordant C@rnival:
*Clears throat meaningfully*

You're the "odd exception", Mord@nt.

08:57 / 19.03.02

My Coat's a huge blue woolen coat, reaches down to my ankles. It's lovely and warm and weighs a ton. Got it for a fiver in age concern about 4 years ago - now it's on it's last legs after being my constant companion for nearly every moment (yes including in the summer) since I bought it.

Unfortunately it's now on it's last legs and I am looking for a suitable replacement. It has such lovely deep pockets, perfect for books, including small hardbacks. Gotta get me more pockets!

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

10:08 / 19.03.02

FWIW, Ganesh, I think that talking about coats you love is not necesarily competitive or penisy; it could just as well be seen as a form of drag, in a sense, or an opportunity for men to talk about clothes in a way they may not generally be able to.

In fact, it might be said that you are pathologising the act of discussing clothes as abnormal and (subsequently) genitocentric, and thus objectifying men indulging in acts of non-utilitarian costuming in a very...feminising way. Which is sort of...straight of you.

Having said which, the original "This is the best coat in the world. I bet you haven't got a coat this good", and the presenting arguments as to why the aforementioned coat is better than all other coats in the world ("Bet you can't wear your tiny, shrunken coat with a suit!""Um...no. Not really planning to. But thanks...") is pretty funny.

Why can't we all just celebrate the unique, individual, idiosyncratic virtues of our own coats? And each other's penises?

11:33 / 19.03.02

My penis is long, blue and has a hood.

Sorry, that's my Thomas Burberry duffel coat.

11:55 / 19.03.02

Ive never had a really great coat. truly brilliant jackets, but never once owned a garment that combined breathtaking coolassedness with protection from the worst winter elements

one day! ONE DAY!

14:43 / 19.03.02

Haus: oh, I agree. Lunchtime silliness, really; for some reason, the phrase 'I've got a really great coat' struck me as funny. That and the largely male rush to celebrate... er, outerwear.

I love coats, me. And penises.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

15:26 / 19.03.02

Hey, who doesn't.

A friend of mine has informed me that my coat is perfect for thieving (or "tievin'" if you're miss cleo), as you can move your hands around inside the coat and look like your hands are in the pockets. Genius! I wonder if the navy had that in mind.

15:47 / 19.03.02

Coats? Jackets? Oh Yeah!!!

Not sure which is my "favorite" coat, they each have a different mood:

1) the fake leopard fur short coat that I often wear when meeting people in the street – "really, you can't miss me in this coat..."

2) the almost floor-length black coat with gold trim that makes older men salute and older women with poodles wonder why I'm not hailing a cab for them

3) the 70's leather jacket with xtra-large fur collar that makes me feel like Pam Grier whenever I wear it (I lack the 'fro, tho)

4) my series of long leather jackets in various strange colors (green, russet, chocolate, blue...)

5) my "normal" black wool coat with black velvet collar

There's more in my closet, but those spring to mind first.

00:02 / 20.03.02

quote: I love coats, me. And penises.

That's IT! THE PERFECT COAT! made ENTIRELY of properly preserved penises!

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