The Mac named after Charles Macintosh, is a fashion staple which rocketed to fame by Thomas Burberry and Co during World War One. It's going to rain again soon so pick one up sharpish.
The Mac Daddy - Caine as Palmer
A hardy perennial perfectly suited to the British climate the ‘Mac’ is named after Charles Macintosh who, in 1823 patented a method for bonding rubber between two layers of fabric but, it wasn’t until World War One, that the item really came into it’s own when Thomas Burberry and Co. – in response to government demands for an all weather coat to protect our damp armed forces from inclement weather – created the single breasted ‘Mac’ for the cannon fodder at the front and the now ubiquitous double breasted trench coat for the officer at the back. Later popularized by Humphrey Bogart and all chaps investigative, the Trench sold millions the world over only to be outshone in the sixties by the single breasted, fly fronted, raglan sleeve (once known as an ‘oil slicker’) variety sans belt. The chosen rain wear of Michael Caine’s Harry Palmer in the, The Ipcress File and A Funeral In Berlin, Yves St Laurent and our very own Harold Wilson, today, there is no outer garment more hip than the classic single breasted fly fronted raglan sleeve Mac, the finest examples of which are produced by Aquascutum, Hackett (the Livingstone) and the Mark Marengo on Savile Row.
