With bleary eyes and under-your-breath curses you face the prospect of another working week. Oh the drudgery! Oh the tedium! Oh the... oooh is that your trench coat? You move aside hanger after hanger of spangly party dresses to reach the tan coat, grinning bewitchingly at you. You pull it off, surveying it carefully. It's been a long time since you wore a trench coat. Too long. You slip into it over your pyjamas and it just feels right. Perfect for now, with that crisp autumn breeze filtering through the windows. Quickly you find something suitably pastel-y and french to wear with it - pleated bow tie skirt, quirky patterned top, duck egg blue sweater and a fun necklace. A pair of wedges on your feet - you couldn't possibly broach the subject of wearing heels - although you think that maybe stilettos would look better. But as you look at yourself in the mirror you see that it all goes together. Remarkable. That's never happened before. Normally getting ready in the mornings is a chaotic rush as coffee spills, clothes are flung aside and your hair hangs limp to your shoulders. But the coffee is miraculously still in its cup and your hair has an uncharacteristic bounce. It must be the trench.
This top is major. And you never say that. But when you slip into this ruffled, ruched, scrunched, tired slip of a thing you can't help but feel very, very, cool. You pair it with a beautiful rich indigo denim skirt, a cool man's watch, various stringy bracelets, and lace up sandals. You're unsure about the jacket though. Blazer? Eh. Leather jacket? too much. Then you see the trench coat, flung over an arm chair after you got home yesterday. With its shroud of mystery and ineffable gallic charm you know it'll go perfectly with this outfit. You'll belt it up, and as you stride into the office fling it open to reveal that crazy cool top. Perfect. Or, if you were in paris... Parfait. Hah.
You succumbed. You bought a pair of thigh high boots. You don't really know what you were thinking, but it was something about that creamy faux leather and the way they scrunched up around your knees. They were adorable. And fierce. All at the same time. You decide to trial them on a night out, with a flimsy chiffon dress and some sparkly jewelry. You don't need a jacket, do you. You'll be inside all the time, and drinking too many bourbon and apple juices. As you get out of your apartment you feel that crisp chilly wind and you realise that you're going to be cold after all. You rush around your house searching for something to wear, watching the clock tick over until you are just a little bit fashionably late. Huh. It seems as if nothing goes with thigh high boots. Everything looks too sexy, too silly, too over the top. In a fit of desperation (and because you can't really be anymore late or else your friends will leave without you), you grab your trench coat and rush out the door. When you get to the bar your friends grin madly. 'Oh, don't you look chic!' One of them says as you untie your trench coat.
You love it when things don't quite go together. Checked skirt? A little bit 'to the manor born', but still good. Dusky pink crop top? a little bit 'flashdance' but still good. Shoe boots? A little bit last season, but you love them anyway. Chandelier earrings? a little bit too glamorous, but who cares. These things shouldn't work together, but when you add the classic trench coat, belted and sleeves rolled up, they do. They work like a charm. And the reason for that? The trench coat goes with everything. It's like that best friend who complements you perfectly. It goes with good moods and bad, good weather and bad, bright things, dark things, short things, long things. You could wear it all the time. And this week, it seems like you are.
You do love a good chanel 2.55 on a friday. There's something clever, so quietly ironic about wearing something so classic on the last day of the working week. It's like your thumbing the nose at the establishment and ringing in days of doing nothing but drinking espressos and reading proust. This outfit is perfect for a little TGIF party. You've got these velvet harem pants on that are so comfortable they might as well be pyjama pants. The comfort theme is extended with your cute as a button bow flats in a gorgeous emerald green. A sparkly cuff sets the whole thing off nicely. You swan around the office, trench coat billowing out behind you, like some fabulous heiress about to set off on a yacht somewhere glamorous. Instead you're going for fish and chips and a huge glass of beer once the day is done. But the trench coat makes it all so much better.
You're feeling very chic in this little french slip, suede pump with sparkly 'love' embellished on the toes and diamond necklace. You're off to a romantic dinner and you couldn't think of anything you'd rather way, and any other way you'd rather top it off, than this outfit and trench coat. It's sexy and sweet, and guaranteed to win hearts (and then some). You feel like some french ingenue with messy hair and a bag full of secrets, clutching the trench closed at the neck as you walk around early morning empty city streets. You feel like some fabulous thing, dressed to the nines, but still wearing something as flimsy as underwear. You feel... Oh dinner's here. Yum.