Rainwear Central Rainwear Forum

I was wondering... Has anybody here been encouraged to wear shiny rainwear by friends or family ? Did they happily acknowledge your fetish ?

My Mum knew of my fetish from a very early age and she actually liked the idea of me owning a shiny PVC mackintosh. It would be talked about very often.Aswell as their practicality in wet weather she thought they looked fantastic.
I remember it was a next door neighbour who told my Mum about my fetish when I was about 6 years old.
Our very pretty blonde neighbour loved wearing a shiny blue cotton backed PVC mac and I always asked to try it on every time I went round to play with her son who was the same age as me. My Mum was surprised but amused at first, and would gently tease me about it, constantly asking if I would like her to buy me a shiny plastic mackintosh. I felt very shy about it to begin with but the more it was talked about, the more accepted it became.

One day my Mum said she had a surprise and that we had to go down town to very special shop she knew I would really like...
We went to Milletts and went down in to the basement where I shall never forget the sight and the smell that greeted me...
There were rows and rows of beautiful shiny PVC mackintoshes.
I spent ages trying on so many of them, but eventually decided on a very shiny black one. I couldn't have been happier.

After that, whenever any one came to the house or we went out some where, my Mum would telll me to put on my lovely shiny coat to show to everybody. Even if we had visitors to the house she'd tell me put on my mac to show them how much I loved it.
Very happy days indeed.

What year would that have been Macklovin?

I remember Millets selling those sorts of macks in the early 1980s , was it around about then ?

When I was about 5 years old, my mother had bought me a very Bright Red PVC Mackintosh with a large matching Souwester. My sister on the other hand had a navy blue one with White spots which I liked better as far as the colour was concerned.
Actually at the time I think I hated it as it stood out, but so many kids and adults wore them then that no-one bothered in the slightest - If it rained you wore proper rainwear and that was it !

I don't think my mind started to change until the day in school there was a particularly heavy rainstorm, all day every day for two or three days. My teacher who may have been in her mid twenties knew I did'nt like wearing the raincoat but was giving me a lift home.

I remember as the rain poured down outside the windows of the classroom that she said she loved the colour of my Mackintosh and said I was sensible and it was very smart when I wore it with the Souwester tied squarely on my head. I think she told me to wait while she got her coat and bag and then a while later she appeared in a dark Blue Rukka mackintosh and Yellow Souwester, she just looked so fabulous and said " See, now we will both wear our mackintoshes out through the pouring rain to my car".

That is the incident that stands out as the first memorable experience of loving rainwear.

I have always wished I could re-live it !

I'm dating myself, but back in the fifties as a child I was fascinated with plastic raincoats. What a highlight when I was awarded a smoky grey full length plastic raincoat "just like dad's" on about the fifth birthday. Seems like we've gone through two phases. One back then and the other jelly jacket era from the late seventies into the mid eighties. Are we possibly due for a renaissance? Fashion does change and we can hope.

there were the plastic jacket type raincoats firstly at h&m, which seemed to fly off the rails, and then primark, which seemed to sell ok, never ever saw anyone wearing them out in public though, have asked this before i know. What actually happened to them

Hi Jjai ! Yes, as far as I remember, it was about 1979 when that visit to Millett's took place. I remember it so very clearly like yesterday. Especially the female shop assistant helping me try on each shiny mac and commenting on how she could see how much I was enjoying the experience. I just couldn't stop smiling, even after leaving the shop, as I decided to wear my new shiny mackintosh on the way home.
The wonderful smell of the pvc was unforgettable and I couldn't have been more excited.

Merv, you obviously don't get out enough. I've seen dozens of ladies wearing the Primark macs, both the solid colour PU ones and the green/pink/blue jelly jacket ones. Most sightings have been at the coast or at theme parks.

you have the advantage over me there, our coast is the north sea which is not the most appealing of places and the run down seaside resorts are now packed with East Europeans.

Strange i've always found europeans more receptive to rainwear. Visiting Sweden, France & Germany i've seen loads of people wearing shiny macs, shiny puffa coats etc.

@Macklovin : At Millets, did they have shiny PVC macs, more unlined macs or cotton backed ?
I remember that in 1979 Woolworth had a lot of unlined shiny PVC macs too, till size 12 to 14, even for teenagers,
They had shiny unlined vinyl raincoats in colours blue with white trim, white with blue trim,
red with white trim, and white with red trim, all of them had a rainhat / southwester.
I was 12 years old and got a blue shiny PVC mac with a rainhat. I was quite small, so I had to try on the girls sizes.
I think, that this was the beginning for my passion to get attracted by shiny PVC macs.
The shine, the smell and feel, the noise and rustling / crackling of the PVC material really made me excited about wearing those macs.