Duffle

Today

In time-honoured fashion we hailed the new year by walking up the lane in hazy sunshine. I felt very warm in my duffle coat. I bought this one at Quill's in Glengarriff and it's made of Donegal tweed.

In My Day

I was never a fan of school uniforms and hated my c-cup bosoms being stuffed into a shapeless gymslip when I was thirteen and having to wear a crazy velour or straw hat. Pile on top of the gymslip a cardigan and gaberdine raincoat and you have a walking fashion disaster. 

I managed to damage my gymslip sufficiently while in a chemistry class to gain permission to go straight to the (slightly) more acceptable middle and senior school blouse and skirt option.

By the time I was in the lower sixth I wished to align myself with artists everywhere. And that meant wearing a duffle coat, as all the Beatniks did (or so I imagined). It was hard enough persuading Daddy to spend money on clothes at all without expecting him to fork out on what must have seemed to him a frivolous fashion item. However, Mamma worked her magic and we sallied out to buy me this essential garment. 

I was so pleased to have it; now I would be really hip when cruising around Upper Norwood and Croydon. What I had failed to mention to Mamma that there was an outright ban on wearing these items with ones school uniform. There was no way Mamma and Daddy could afford two coats. In the end I confessed and Mamma wrote a crawling (and lying) letter to the Headmistress Miss Harley-Mason, saying that she had bought the coat before the ban.

Miss H-M grumpily agreed; she already thought that I was a lost cause, destined for arty rebellion and this was just one more manifestation. I was jubilant and, I must say, wore the garment to death.

While I really like my duffle coat because of its warmth and nice snuggly hood, I wouldn't say today that it's stylish at any level!