Dear Wardrobe
July 30th 2010
If you find rainwear too exciting you might find a use for the Tingley® MVJ148 Safetyflex® Green Flame Resistant Specialty PVC on Polyester Jacket, which bosts the singular property of being self-extinguishing.
Lots of serious rainwear for the plastic lover at the Magid Glove & Safety Manufacturing Company.
Thanks to Michael Youngman.
Speaking of jackets, out of the goodness of their heart someone equipped me with a 'breathable' waterproof jacket for my hols a couple of weeks ago. "I know you love that mac of yours but really! You need something light and bright and cheerful for July!
It looked OK and I had to show willing. Quite expensive - not one of those terrifically high tech things they wear for the North Pole, but still quite a bit more than £29.50 from the market. But, I wonder, when they say 'breathable' is it just a pure con? Every time I used it I got itchy hot within a few minutes. Even in the evenings when quite cool outside.
Alas, pic not me! - need I say..
LE
Rajkumar has done a photoshoot for us!
What can I say? The MinkyMac as never seen before...
On the right - Monsoon outfit - shirt and shorts in featherweight rubberised cotton. How cool is that?
I'm keeping lots more pics to myself for a bit...
YouTube is absolutely wonderful I know, and gives us so much just by searching for the obvious tags. But there's lots of lovely things that are up there for a quite different reason, clips no one would dream of tagging 'rainwear'. So special thanks to the scouts we have amongst us, looking out treasure that is buried, sometimes quite deep! Some new pointers on the video page.
Thanks very much as well to everyone else who has taken time to contribute this month.
LE
It's not often rubberised cotton reaches the High Street, but here it is in a very covertable jacket in the classic colourway.
The Witnesham Mac in from Jack Wills.
Thanks to MacJames.
Meanwhile Namrof has been creating tremendous interest again this month on Flickr with his great flow of great pics. Her's Nicola in her Abha.
July 1st 2010
Glastonbury a HUGE disappointment, hardy a pair of wellies in sight. What is He playing at? But at least there were eight - sticking together for support?
Thanks anyway for trying to do the proper thing.
Plan B - Converse?
It's not the same.
A friend has laboured long and hard to produce a new listing of films of interest to the impermeaphile - by date, title and director. What a nice thing to share!
You must follow Stormstroller as she braves the monsoon on our behalf! She has almost dissolved completely more than once, but is now discovering the Way.
Several depositions this month - really interesting.
And lots of other stuff - many thanks indeed to everyone.
(I have a new machine with a dedicated separate backup hard drive. About time too, I'm afraid. Apologies to all those whose work I have lost or mislaid or delayed... )
LE
June 7th
Do please keep your eye on Stormstroller as she field-tests her rainwear in the Monsoon.
A friend pointed me to Montcler's plastic mac site recently and I loved it. Great choice of styles and great prices, but also beautifully presented - I'm envious! One specially endearing feature - what must be a strict House dress code. If you don't wear classic Hunter wellies with your mac, you must wear your white Converse hightops. (The model breaks the rules once or twice, but she's a good girl mostly.)
"Some of us have not seen capes worn by actual 
humans during our lifetime" says Joanna Douglas, of Shine, though there are others surely who have maybe not seen anything else....
At any rate, now everyone is noticing the pleasures of the cape. "The garment is enjoying a resurgence" reports Beth Hale in the Daily Mail, - "and not just for fancy dress parties."
Meanwhile the Guardian has moved beyond the mere presence of the cape on the high street. 
We are to wear our jackets as though they were capes, advises The Measure in the Guardian. And even the perfectly dreadful new Sex and the City flick has Samantha in a swimsuit under a silk cape
Peter A writes to document Wallis contribution to the sum of human happiness in the 1970s. I notice Wallis now has a nice blog, as well as several smart trenches (LE)
June 1st
Lakeland Elements is proud to be associated with the work of Fiona Macauley, about to launch her career, whose designs will be appearing at the Graduate Fashion week in London next week. She has used our metallic polyurethane material to produce a range of great jackets. Some pics here and here.
Namrof, having made a tremendous hit on Flickr with his great range of rainwear pictures, has now produced a new portfolio featuring among other delights Rajkumar's very own Abha.
Wonderful stuff, Namrof, warmest congrats, a thrill to be associated with your outstanding work!
I'm home but not quite dry as far as my machinery is concerned - thanks for many messages of sympathy! New machine installed, all my data recovered, me more or less recovered, programs beginning to yield to my command - but still with a will of their own. If they were human beings I would know what to do ...
But, basically, all I have to do now is catch up! Happily, as Hazel puts it, Ex India semper aliquid novum. Lots of nice things in the pipeline...
Hope the update is OK - thanks to contributors.
LE
Rainwear in Spain - the latest from Ayshea
Can anyone help? Charmaine writes:
I
have a black rubber or vinyl long trench coat with the markings "ETS
BARMETTE PARIS 1964", size 32. It appears at one time to have a button-in
lining (which I do not have). I have had for over 25 years and would dearly
like to know more about it. Any information about this model of coat and
its maker would be warmly appreciated. Thank you!
One or two mentions on the site, and one or two Barmette macs for sale on Ebay - and, as here, on the OXFAM site. But any further info?
May 1st
For
some time now photgrapher Namrof has been allowing us to post pictures
here of his (many! and gorgeous!!) Girlfriends.
His pictures have been among the most popular of the site.
He has not stopped!
Anita, right, is his latest intriguing subject, and I have a sequence of their work together almost ready to go.
That's good! - But even more so: he has now put up many of his hitherto unseen pictures on FlickR, where they are already attracting a good deal of admiring attention. Thanks so much Namrof, such a terrific contribution to our well-being! Do please, please, keep those pixels playing.
I'm always slow in getting people's things up, very much including Namrof's, but things are worse this month because my machine is still in need of tlc. Also a doctor. He is coming I hope. Maybe today! He was in Thailand when my call went out and I have had to put down the revolution and put a stop to that wretched volcano business in order to make possible safe air passage home.
In case you were wondering, the rainwear vote has only one way to go.
LE
April 2nd
Saw A Single Man the other night and thought it was just terrific! Trying hard to find a rainwear connection so I can mention it here but it's hard going!
There's a torrential downpour moment, but not a mac on the plot and it didn't really drench the hero like that swim in the lake a long while ago. Julianne Moore is there, but on the inside, and the connection with the rather indefinite gaberdine she wore in The End of the Affair is not really very convincing. There is Tom Ford of course. But handbags? The only other thing is his sunglasses!
Easter is the time when everything goes wrong, and sure enogh my machine has crashed, hopelessly, and I am having to camp out at the nether end of my wits. I will try and add the other things I was going to say asap. I had got a nice updates list almost ready - but haven't been able to retrieve it yet.
I'll put up what I can ....
(Did someone say Backup? Well, key things were backed up but fast changing things not...What a bore.)
LE
The new must-have fabric, we are assured by Jasmine Gardner, is latex.
TopShop are leading the way on the High Street, says Jasmine, but she may be stretching a point there - I can find only cycling shorts on the website. (Do I sort of like them? )
Leading
designer must be Kim West,
don't you think? Has such a feel for what you can do, and should
do, and MUST do with rubber and the body. And video
clips with serious class.
Maybe Rajkumar's SlickR shorts will ride the wave!
Thanks to Anton
March 1st
M
writes to give us notice of some must-have films he is about to offer
on e-bay. Some rarities, he says, such as the original VHS version of
No
Blade of Grass, - original or not, one of the must-have
must-haves imho. Also La Chatte - which is the only
film where I've had someone warn me off putting up pics for copyright
reasons - and Des Gens sans Importance,
both featuring Francoise Arnoul. ("If anybody knows of an actress
who has spent more time on screen wearing a raincoat I would like to know
who it is," M says); Made in the USA,
where each and every frame, surely you agree, is an individual masterpiece
of structure and colour - whether it has in it Anna Karina in her brilliant
French Trench or not; and The
Huggetts Abroad and Lady
Godiva Rides Again, both with the iconic descent down the stairs
of the the girl in a whispering mackintosh. M says don't hesitate to "Ask
the Seller Question" - questions and answers can be exchanged without
being shown publicly on ebay.
Time to get a new mortgage from one of UK's friendly banks.
And factor in the next key purchase from Rajkumar, a MinkyMac in black / black SlickR.
LE
Postmistress Alta Misner hanging the
mail for the Southbound train
1920, Lakewood, Arlington, USA
Courtesy Lakewood Schools District
4th February
A friend suggested I ought to offer to drop people a regular email to tell them about site updates and new excitment from Rajkumar etc. - just in case - horrible thought - they don't always remember to come over and look on a regular basis. What I would do would be to send round more or less a copy of the 'What's new' list every month.
Please let me know if you would like to receive such a thing.
A friend has written to say Love the trenchcoats but have you noticed it's not just Burberry who makes them?
I have, and we all add Aquascutum to our bookmarks do we not?
But yes there are lovely things elsewhere, looking good for 2010, and here's one from Banana Republic.
For video though you do have to keep up with Burberry - and here is the Times review of their September London catwalk show (thanks to MacJames).
1st February 2010
Let's
remember Éric
Rohmer who died a few days ago, thank goodness not before
giving the world La Femme de l'Aviateur. As we say on
the listing, No better susurrus on
film. (LE) H adds: And with Anne-Laure Meury slipping in and out
of her sweet little imper it's not just the susurrus we have
to be grateful for in Rohmer's most eloquent exposition of the thesis
that plot is not necessarily the point. (H) (And let's refresh our thanks
to Alan D who brought this icon to the site.)
LE
Ayshea tells me she is bringing out two new films early in 2010, offering "the best in capes, mackintoshes and fetishwear to the discerning viewer." [More]
L
12th January 2010
Have
you noticed the lovely things on MacMan's
elegant site? Mostly he offers the body pure and simple, beautifully
presented, but here and there a dash of rainwear makes an imaginative
and piquant offering. The bodies are professional - Lana Cox is featured
- and the rainwear shines.
Gathering enthusiasts fast I'm told and I see why.
H
Trending in the TwentyTeenies ...
Wellies
Emma Johnson flouting the Guardian's wellie rules in the Liverpool Daily Post |
Do you remember when you had to think Niagara Falls or trips down sewers to find a wellie? Or Guardian persons gardening. Not any more. They were standard Festival kit in the Noughties and look set to march straight ahead into the the Century's teenage years... So much so that Guardian persons feel the need to differentiate. Fashion Wellies are ahem not quite the thing, with their primary colours, polka dots and positively darft heels. Choose something much more expensive and preferably flown in, like the Aigle, or Le Chameau, although a pair of Lowthers will pass muster if the bonus is hurting.
Read Paula Cocozza in the Guardian.
Capes
A cape, says Alexis Petridis, confers an "elegant, wicked sophistication" on its wearer, who would pay £870 for the one he favours, by Undercover, at Browns. Me, I think Mandarmani in SlickR by Rajkumar for £159.
Trenchcoats
Cross
fingers on this one. One more season? They've transformed the high street
for three years now, I'm thrilled to see Marks and Spencer still reworking
the magic in their latest line-up. Video
1st January 2010
Here's wishing everyone a 2010 that willl let them find pleasure, and nudge them to hand a bit of it on.
I've been run ragged in recent months by the Bazaar, but it's been very exciting to play a part in introducing really new things into the impermeaphile repertoire. In view of the great reception they have received, that's set to continue. To the MD of Rajkumar, a terrific round of applause, for knocking spots off his Nokia as he responds to our emails throughout the (Indian) day and night: always friendly, always tolerant, always helpful.
And to the many many who continue to pass me pictures and stories and ideas - many many thanks. Do please go on tolerating the delays that build up. Don't stop now!
EARLIER LE BLOG ....
