Aquascutum looks to honor a Hollywood legend with its latest spin on the iconic trench coat. Revisiting Humphrey Bogart’s portrayal of Rick Blaine in the 1942 classic Casablanca, the British brand unveils its Bogart trench coat. The trench was produced in collaboration with the Bogart Estate.
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Discussing the partnership, Bogart’s son Stephen shares, “My main mission at the Humphrey Bogart Estate is to honor and protect my father’s legacy. This requires that any partnership we enter into is authentic. In that key sense, it doesn’t get any better than our new partnership with Aquascutum.”
Aquascutum Bogart Trench Coat
Bogart explains, “My father was a loyal Aquascutum customer–perhaps the most iconic trench-coat-wearer in history. I think he’d be honored that Aquascutum wants to partner with us to launch the Bogart trench coat.”
Sharing more information about how the collaboration came together, Aquascutum head of menswear design Thomas Harvey conveys, “When we started speaking to Humphrey Bogart’s son, Stephen, about collaborating with the Humphrey Bogart Estate on developing a new trench-coat style, I was already thinking about reintroducing a classic, bigger coat into the collection. Many of our customers were coming into our stores and bemoaning the fact that so many brands were now offering the trench as a skinny, tight-fitting fashion item instead of a protective wrap-around.”
Revisiting the brand’s archives, Harvey explains, “I dug out the patterns for The Kingsway, which was the style Humphrey Bogart wore, and based the new model on this. The placement of the pockets is the same, as is their size, the sleeves go back to a raglan style, the belt position remains unchanged, and, perhaps most importantly, it’s a big old long coat–around 120cm. It even features a newspaper pocket on the lining of the coat.”
Bringing the famous trench coat into the modern age, the designer says, “Some things have been updated: the fabric, for example, is a waterproof cotton blend that takes advantage of advances in fabric technology and so will be longer-lasting. And I’ve adapted the shape to reflect the fact that people’s frames are a little larger these days. But in terms of the overall design, The Bogart is very, very similar to the original Kingsway.” Aquascutum’s Bogart trench coat will make its debut in the label’s London stores in July 2016, before launching globally in August.
