Rediscovered an heirloom

[hutch--]

Many years ago I helped out a friend who was having language problems with a legal dispute. While it was not a commercial transaction, my friend gave me a leather overcoat that he had bought in Belgrade when he was younger but no longer fitted him. Its one of those that was commonly worn in WW2 by SS officers and while it is perfect to wear in the freezing cold, I used to get heaps of wisecracks for looking like a member of the SS so I retired it to a wardrobe where it sat there for about 30 years.

It was made in Yugoslavia a long time ago, double breasted and with a wide collar and reasonable heavy leather and was still in very good condition apart from being a bit dry and stiff so I spent a half hour or so with some Armour All leather cleaner and it has come back looking like something out of WW2.

I am not sure if there is any advantage dressing like Reinhart Heydrich but it is a magnificent thing to wear when its really cold and the wind cuts through ordinary outer garments. I can still get into it but its a little tight around the middle and I think I can just move the buttons by about 2 CM to get just a little more room.

A bit later I will post a photo as it is a classic garment.

[peterle]

And wearing it will be a bit of a workout. Usually these coats weight a ton. (imagin sweaty smiley here)

[Steelmillal]

I use homemade dubbin on vintage leather and better for conditioning. Essentially its beeswax and animal fats, but coconut oil works, too: 35/65 wax to oils is good ratio. I can imagine in a hard, cold wind with wool base layers, such a coat would indeed be warm v. being a cold poser. I'd choose warm every time. Looking forward to seeing the collar

[Henry Hall]

It sounds like an excellent garment. It seems like we'll never escape being thought of as Herr Flick when wearing a leather trench-coat. My father actually purchased a leather trench only a few years ago. 2nd-hand. When he went to a pub in it (plus wearing a black hat) people said: 'Watch out, the Gestapo are here!'

Is yours black? I think brown would fare better. 

[hutch--]

I took these this morning, the coat is very heavy and its construction is more like saddlery than garment but it is really well made and it will beat winds that come up from Antarctica. It is still pretty dry but I will keep using the ArmorAll until it becomes a little more pliable. Funny part was years ago at a pub I used to eat at, many of the youngsters wanted to but it so they could look like an SS officer.

[Henry Hall]

The wire hanger is giving me backache!

[Schneiderfrei]

I agree with Henry Hall, go and get a nice wooden one, from Woolies with the broad shoulder supports, at least.

[hutch--]

It has survived about 30 years on that wire coat hanger so a little longer will do it no harm. I do have a couple of wide shouldered ones I got from the tailor who used to have a shop down the road but I will have to find them. I am mainly spraying more wax based cleaner into it at the moment and it has become a lot more flexible. Its one of those garments that you can hang on a hook on the back of a door without any problems so I am not going to lose any sleep over it.

[Henry Hall]

Wire hangers were good for getting a TV signal. Or, in the old days, unfastening and poking through a car door window to undo the lock when you left your keys inside.

Another was fastening one into the top of a tube to make a fishing rod rest.

In Kansas nearly two decades ago, I went into a roadside "rest room" (as the Americans call it, but no-one was resting in there) and they had a toilet roll on one hooked into an eye-hook on the wall. I often wonder how they got it on there without cutting the wire, or maybe they did because I never looked. I wish I had because it annoys me. However, I digress....

[hutch--]

You may find some humour in this. Years ago when I ran my own business I used to buy engineering supplies from a number of different travellers and one was this nice Jewish lady called Rachel. One of her questions to me seeing that I was over 6 feet tall and basically blonde with blue eyes was where did my family come from and what side were they on during WW2.

I had to explain to her that my father was a member of the AIF (Australian Infantry Forces) who fought in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands against the Japanese.  Its a quirk that the historical Australian "Stringbean" (tall skinny figure) look remarkably similar to what the Nazis were modelling with the Aryan master race.

This is why I have to be careful wearing a double breasted black European leather overcoat with anyone who was from European descendants who were old enough to know about WW2.

[Schneiderfrei]

Sensitivity would be a good thing.

[peterle]

You could wear a pair of Klompen with the coat. It would be a nice experiment wich garment triggers more associations.   

[hutch--]

I think you would have to find a pair of jack boots to make the scene, I am not sure if clogs would be the right image. 

[peterle]

Meh, too traditional. 

[Henry Hall]

With the klompen they can hear you coming.