Introduction 1. Substance 2. War 3. Mobility 4. Insurgency 5. Reportage 6. Heroes or Villains 7. Outsiders 8. Style Conclusion Postscript Notes Index
Explores the history of the most enigmatic of banal items, the trench coat. A product of science and technology, then a weapon of war, the trench coat effortlessly blended into literature, music, film and fashion to become the garment of choice for the most mysterious characters of the modern world.
Jane Tynan is Assistant Professor of Design History and Theory, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Trench Coat maps the extraordinary lives of this seemingly simple
garment, which emerged from early industrialized warfare to become
the screen for a multitude of projected dreams, fears and desires
across the 20th century to the present. Jane Tynan’s material and
cultural history charts the evolution of a coat that is practical
yet cryptic, hyper-visible but concealing, possessed of vitality
whilst also a form of camouflage.
*Rachel Woodward, Professor of Human Geography, Newcastle
University, UK*
Jane Tynan’s Trench Coat is a delight – richly informative and
written in prose as stylish as the object it describes. Uncovering
the ‘dark and dangerous energy’ behind this icon of modernity,
Tynan vividly captures the trench coat’s perennial appeal.
*Catherine Spooner, Professor of Literature and Culture, Lancaster
University, UK, and author of Fashioning Gothic Bodies*
Really interesting. . . . There's so many iconic moments that this
analysis helps us peer more closely into.
*New Books Network*
Another engaging, thought-provoking paperback in Bloomsbury's
excellent 'Object Lessons' series.
*The Irish Scene*
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