Do we all want to slouch around Moorgate in the rain in trench coats? Actually, maybe we do

IT HAS taken me about three years to find a trench coat that didn’t make me feel slightly tense.

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I’ve always been on the fence about the whole thing, if I’m honest. Are they a wardrobe essential that everyone needs to own? It’s always worth questioning the wisdom of so called “classic” pieces — see also white shirts (never met one that didn’t make me feel like I needed to pair it with a grosgrain edged blazer and go to school in 1989).

Yet with the vague temperament of our increasingly clement winters, the trench has come into its own. In reality you probably won’t need anything much thicker until January if you’re wearing knitwear. Is dressing at this point in the year ever more than daily attempts at reducing eau de Tube?

I think I have pinpointed my — and these are very much personal — issues with trenches down to the uniformity of the whole look. Is it all a bit same-y Inspector Clouseau? Are we dulling our lives trotting about in the exact same beige coat as everyone else on a miserable rainy day on Moorgate?