Goths don't wear trench coats

Ever since Columbine, and maybe before, the media consistently call long coats worn by Goths "trench coats". That is nonsense.

...The classical trench coat was a creation of Thomas Burberry, inventor of gabardine fabric, who submitted in 1901 a design for an army officer's raincoat to the UK War Office. That raincoat subsequently became part of the service uniform of British officers. During World War I, the design was modified to include epaulettes, straps, and D-rings. This latter version was dubbed "trench coat" by the soldiers in the trenches. Towards the Second World War, the trench coat became part of all enlisted men's and officers' kits, especially in the American forces: the US Army, US Army Air Corps, and US Marine Corps.

The typical trench coat is a ten buttoned double breasted long tan, khaki, beige or black coat with cuff straps on the sleeves, epaulettes (originally used to hold gloves and folding service caps, such as the Glengarry Bonnet), and a belt that may also have two small brass D-rings as a salute to its military heritage; the rings originally were used to secure grenades, sidearms and/or swords...

It is an insult to a classic item of men's, and now women's, apparel to associate the trench coat with Goths. It is beyond me how our media continue to make this mistake, but then they seem increasingly incapable of getting any basic facts right; they constantly refer to armoured personnel carriers as tanks, and to frigates as battleships, so I guess it's just par for the journalistic course.

What Goths actually wear is a "duster". This is derived from coats worn by Australians in the Outback (I'm not sure the Australian origin is true) and then American cowboys. Versions were also worn by early motorists in open cars on dirt roads. The duster, unlike the trench coat, is single-breasted and has no belt or epaulettes.

Mark C.

Update: The Citizen published a letter based on this post, with a zingy ending (full text subscriber only).

Not a 'trench coat' The Ottawa Citizen Published: Saturday, September 16, 2006

The gunman at Dawson College is being described as a goth. The media refer to the coat he was wearing (and to the long coats worn by goths in general) as a "trench coat."..

This reporting sloppiness is especially ironic given that the foreign correspondent in a trench coat -- the real one -- is one of the iconic images of a journalist.

Posted by markc at September 14, 2006 04:05 PM