How the folks here arrived at their respective trenches varies. Ortiz picked up his busted ‘60s-era Burberry trench at a flea market in Paris. Global fashion correspondent Samuel Hine scooped a Daniel Lee-designed Burberry trench when his vintage car coat (also Burberry) gradually lost its waterproof coating (he still wears it on sunnier days). Associate commerce editor Tyler Chin snagged his vintage trench after a months-long quest trawling eBay.
Which brings me to my next bit of crucial advice, courtesy of Ortiz: “Go vintage if you can”—and make sure it’s roomy enough to layer beneath. (Also, it doesn’t have to be so tan.) “Go long, loose, and flowy with the silhouette,” Goh echoes. “You don’t want a trench that ends mid-thigh.” And when it comes to embracing the natural patina secondhand clothing accumulates after decades of hard wear, Ang succinctly sums up the GQ party line: “The more used and abused, wrinkled and beat up, the better.”
Whether you buy one old or new, calf-skimming long or knee-kissing short, pricey and pedigreed or widely available and wallet-friendly, you really can’t go wrong. Take it from GQ style writer Eileen Cartter, who reaches for her preferred trench, a lightly structured riff from indie menswear sensation Commission, when she wants to feel more put-together. Contra to slouchier jackets, Cartter says, the silhouette “is sort of old time-y reporter, like I’m about to hit the pavement and take notes on a spiral notepad.” What could possibly be more GQ than that?