More Fashion:

The 'British Warm' Overcoat

If the film makers of the mid 20th century needed to show that their character was a former army officer - ideally a retired major or colonel - there was one item of clothing that he would wear: the 'British Warm' overcoat.

Nothing says 'ex-officer' better than putting a man into a light brown double breasted coat, made from heavy Melton wool, complete with leather football buttons. Whether the officer is a fine upstanding pillar of the community or a rogue, the coat is his badge of rank (whether or not the rank is real).

So here goes:



Stewart Granger as 'Colonel' Adam Black in Adam & Evelyne



Stewart Granger in Adam & Evelyne

Terry-Thomas as a down-on-his-luck retired army officer, turned fur thief, in Make Mine Mink

Cecil Parker as 'Major Courtney' in The Ladykillers

Aubrey Dexter as 'The Major' in Saloon Bar (1940)



Michael Gwynne in Village of the Damned

And here's your author showing that you don't have to be a major (or even a colonel) to wear one!

And here, if you are interested, is a link to a page that tells you all about the history of the style and it's beginnings as a military greatcoat: Gentleman's Gazette.