Pakamac

Why I feel any urge to respond to Frank I've no idea, but for the record: I haven't worn a plastic raincoat sine I was about five, and neither a nylon once since I finished school. If outside in the rain I generally wear a light trench-style coat when it's milder or a woollen coat in the winter, both 'dressy', both bright, and use a brolly, also preferably a cheerful color against the gloom. I like bright colors in the rain but ideally I stay out of it - I've never been much of an outdoors person.

But my current 'slightly-more-significant-than-the-others' other likes outdoor music festivals, and walking, and watching sport, and if I'm to go along with him I'll need to find some cheap but durable rainwear, for use in quite a few places where the umbrella is inconvenient; or even not allowed. So I look around on the street today and I see, what? 'Hoodies' that young people today swear by, that make you look like an extra in The Count Of Monty Christo, feeble disposable plastic ponchos that look just plain stupid, or heavy 'industrial strength' coats that are dead weight when you're not actually wearing them.

Then I remember back to when I was a kid and we all had light nylon raincoats that kept you perfectly dry and weighed next to nothing and didn't cook you when the sun came out, and looked OK as well, and plastic rain hats that, OK, were a bit naff and unfashionable by the time you were 17 but were convenient to carry with you in case you were caught without a brolly, or needed both hands (eg riding a bike), or just couldn't be bothered. And they kept your hair dry and didn’t look as bad as some of the supposedly ‘cooler’ alternatives.

I'm getting old and cantankerous and I get bees in my bonnet. Most likely it'll be something else next week.

(Moderator, please enter this re-edited version instead of the previous one - thanks, EA)

Why I feel any urge to respond to Frank I've no idea, but for the record: I haven't worn a plastic raincoat sine I was about five, and neither a nylon once since I finished school. If outside in the rain I generally wear a light trench-style coat when it's milder or a woollen coat in the winter, both 'dressy', both bright, and use a brolly. I like bright colors in the rain but ideally I stay out of it - I've never been much of an outdoors person. But my current 'slightly-more-significant-than-the-others' other likes outdoor music festivals, and walking, and watching sport, and if I'm to go along with him I'll need to find some cheap but durable rainwear. and quite a few places the umbrella inconvenient; or even not allowed. So I look around and I see, what? 'Hoodies' that young people today awear by, that make you look like an extra in The Count Of Monty Christo, feeble disposable plastic ponchos that look just plain stupid, or heavy 'industrial srrength' coats that are dead weight when you're not actually wearing them.

Then I remember back to when I was a kid and we all had light nylon raincoats that kept you perfectly dry and weighed next to nothing and didn't cook you when the sun came out, and looked OK as well, and plastic rain hats that, OK, were a bit naff and unfashionable by the time you were 17 but were convenient to carry with you in case you were caught without a brolly, or needed both hands (eg riding a bike), or just couldn't be bothered. And they kept your hair dry.

I'm getting old and cantankerous and I get bees in my bonnet. Most likely it'll be something else next week.

Hi Constance. Loved your recent comment, havent seen any pigs flying yet..lol. I agree that my interest in plastic macs developed from childhood. When I used to visit my aunts she used to let me try on her raincoat and pleated rain bonnet, she didn’t seem to mind me asking to try it on. I must also own up! I have recently bought two lovely pakamac type raincoats on e-bay at reasonable prices, may I add. One is a women’s cape and others a mans raincoat, both semi transparent slate grey and made of a PVC material called Velon, which is very soft and has a great pvc aroma. Both are classic 1950 era, are unworn and of excellent quality. Hopefully I will find a nice woman like you to model the cape and go a walk in the rain.

Hello Constance. You asked "where are all the men that claim to wear plastic macs ?" Well, I'm one. If you had been in Blackpool on Friday and Saturday you might well have seen me in my see-through plastic jacket battling against the wind and the rain.

You look out of the window. It is tipping it down. It's going to be like this all day long. "What a horrible day!" the raincoat muggles despair. But not so we plastic mac true-believers. It is not just that we can turn to one of the most effective and practical ways of keeping ourselves protected from the downpour, we are about to embark on a most sublime and sensual journey. You reach for your plastic mac. If you're really lucky, you might have to make a choice: will it be the see-through milky white one? The true Pakamac smoky grey one? The glass-clear blue one? Or even the pink one?
So you put the mac on. That lovely PVC aroma! You fasten the buttons (or poppers) all the way up to the neck, pull up the hood, tug on the draw strings and tie up. The anticipation mounts...you open the front door and step out. At once, the rain hammers down on the hood, a lovely drumming sound. This is going to be good, you think. You set off. What a lovely swishing sound. Even better, you may have a very long mac that touches the ground. What a grand sound the hem makes sweeping along the pavement. You can see the raindrops accumulate on the hood, and they start to drip down. Your plastic mac is now glistening with all the thousands of raindrops down the front and on the sleeves. But you feel dry and cosy, all wrapped up. The rain is actually your friend. You catch a glimpse of yourself and your beautiful mac reflected in a shop window. You feel that silky wet plastic. The raised hood feels like a kiss on the cheeks. You curl your fingers around the long sleeves, or maybe you thrust your hands into your pockets. This is pure bliss, you are in a state of grace. You decide that you're in no hurry and will take the long way around. You are the happiest person out on the street. But eventually it is time to head home. You walk in, unfasten the draw strings, lower the hood. You look in the mirror. What a lovely sight as your mac still glistens and the raindrops trickle on to the carpet. You unfasten the mac - how dry you managed to keep. You take the off mac, put it on a hanger and let it dry out. And you give it a kiss as you hang it up and have a final feel of that soft PVC. Your plastic mac has given you a most wonderful day - again.

Hi Constance your story is amazing similar to a lady from the highlands who used to comment here a few years ago her husband hated her wearing plastic macs also all my life I been looking for a lady who really loved plastic macs I did not think they existed I would love to meet you.

When pork prices soar Frank, don't blame me. Yes we are a small (very) minority but I know that I do exist.

When I have read many of the comments by men or women here, the one thing they all seem to have in common is that it is often an interest developed from childhood. I know that I was a very impressionable girl in those days and despite the wearing of a mac being a common thing amongst my other friends, I couldn't understand their special allure for me. I love the feeling of being safe and secure in one.

Yes I rebelled as a teenager but that was more about wearing just what I wanted, not what I was told to wear. Despite all the changes in my hemline, a pakamac was never too far away. I would guess that the majority of my generation rebelled completely away from what their parents told them to wear and cemented their aversion to the pakamac.

Who is buying all the women's plastic macs and other plastic wear that's available on the various websites that sells it? It's either men for their wives or wives to please their husbands or let's face it, even women to please themselves. In my case it's the latter.

Anyway, where are all the men who claim to wear them?

Hi Constance I saw six ladies with rainbonnets in a town near me but no plastic macs waiting for your email.

Many people may have been put off wearing plastic macs because they associated them with over-solicitous parents. ("Take your mac just in case!")My own parents certainly were, but the mac I was lumbered with was my schoolboy gabardine. That I hated, and my folks obstinately refused to get me a Pakamac. I used to be so envious of my friends and classmates with theirs, and this enhanced my desire to join the plastic mac fraternity. But I used to look forward to downpours to see who might be wearing what. On one such morning my friend Graham joined me on the school bus. His parents had bought him a brand new Pakamac that was oversized (we were still-growing 15-year olds). Graham's Pakamac glistened with the many raindrops on it. The hem came right down to his ankles and the sleeves extended beyond his fingers. I though Graham was the luckiest person alive that wet morning. I also envied another friend, Alan, who wore his long Pakamac with wellies and a yellow sou'wester. Both Graham and Alan loved their Pakamacs too. Another classmate had a different iteration on the Pakamac theme: his was semi-transparent white rather than the usual (for boys) gunmetal grey. Nicholas also wore his Pakamac with pride on wet days: his had a hood, which I used to fancy too.

A few ladies claim to love wearing plastic macs yes and pigs can fly.

Hi Beth yes I saw your youtube looks like Bedford was the place too be I do not know were you live but we get more than our fair share of rain maybe somebody said that been in and out of cars is why people do not seem to wear plastic macs you do not see many white trench macs so maybe they had a good point keep your great comments comeing please.

Hi BJ, I haven't worn a full length plastic or nylon raincoat or a plastic rain hat since I left school in 1973. Today it's very much a 'good' coat and a brolly. I looked at buying a rain hat again for use when my first child was born and I needed both hands to push the stroller, but the ones I saw were too thin and feeble to be any use. I eventually 'made do' with a showerproof jacket with a hood.

About 13 or 14 years ago when my daughter was in her early teens, the two of us were leaving my mother's house, and I remember my mother offered me one of those visor-type rain bonnets, which I've never liked, straight out of her raincoat pocket, scrunched up and still damp and grotty and stank to high heaven, when it wasn't even raining that hard. I said thanks but no thanks. Nothing she ever did or said when my daughter and I were both in the room could ever be taken at face value - we had a very Gilmore Girls type relationship.

I have about half a dozen umbrellas, including a new clear 'dome' like the ones from my childhood only much better, and a handbag-sized 'mini maxi', all the others are the old 70s and 80s kind I had as a teenager, that telescoped down into a mushroom shape, were a great size, a nice shape, sloped ideally to tilt back on your shoulder so you're not hiding under it, but above all incredibly bright cheerful colors. I have a classic red one and a royal blue one, and a couple with simple but beautiful geometric designs. Most important of all, they were well made and they lasted years on end. I had the same one all through my twenties, lasted till I was nearly 35. The ones I have now, I stumbled across at garage sales and such places over the last few years.

Today's umbrellas are rubbish and I'm not surprised kids today don't rate them. They're too small, too dull, too disposable, last five minutes, the frame buckles in the wind, they flap around. But what does my head in most is the 'black' compulsion. Until recently I worked in a local council office and the girls would come in on wet mornings looking like drowned rats, and prop up or hang up their miserable inadequate brollies with spokes sticking out all over the place. They looked like absolute junk, but because invariably they were black they were OK, they were in line with the unofficial dress code. Colors were just too frivolous and immature, or something. I never got it - still don't.

This discussion has inspired me to try and find a nylon raincoat like I wore back in the day - maybe even a rainhat too.

Re the market: That would be Victoria Market, on the north edge of the central City of Melbourne. It's still going strong, but just in the last week or so there's been announcements that they're thinking of giving it a facelift.

So Elizabeth Anne, what sort of rainwear do you wear now? Is it anything like what you wore for school?

Based on what people have said to us I think that quite a few ladies would buy a plastic mac if they could. What I think we need for more ladies to wear plastic macs Gareth is rainy weather, more things outdoors and perhaps more holidays in this country. And we also need more shops selling macs because I think the problem with online shopping is that not everyone is happy to use it. Rainwear doesn’t seem very fashionable now but when I was growing up macs were definitely in and the rain was just a good reason to wear them and everyone did. I'm sure that's why I still wear one but it would help if they were fashionable again. I really think that if someone sold the macs that c&a used to sell they would sell lots of them and I would definitely buy one! I was looking for a photograph of Bedford in the rain and I found a lovely video on youtube of the town centre in 1985 it was a sunny day but you can see woolworths and c&a!! It brought back happy memories and I wish they were still there. Also Rob noticed that pakamac is the most popular advert on this site by a long way so that’s also a good sign.

Hi Margaret thank you for view your husband is a lucky chap does any one wear a cardigan these days but what can we do to get more ladies wearing plastic macs you can lead a horse to water but can not make it drink any advice please.

For me Gareth, it would be a nylon mac any day of the week.

Your story provoked a lot of thought on my behalf and maybe nylon macs will have their day again sometime. If half the men in this country can dress in a cardigan (yuk) then maybe there is a chance. Whoever thought that a man in a cardigan could be fashionable. It just shows how the human race follows fashion trends like a 'herd of sheep'.

As long as I can still buy plastic macs online then I'm not too bothered if they never make a comeback. For the guys who like to see us ladies in our plastic macs, then maybe you should be campaigning harder.

I have some rain hats Elizabeth Anne, with a brim but they tend to be in a more robust shiny PVC. I have a nylon one though, which I think looks really sweet. It has a little bow at the back.

Hi Elizabeth Anne I have been to Australia but never saw anybody wearing a mac of any sort they said if you did not like the weather in Melbourne wait twenty minuets and it will change it did rain a bit but no macs do they stil have that great fruit and veg market

Margaret, in Australia when I was a girl we didn't have the Pakamac brand as far as I can remember ('mac' at the time being a distinctly 'pom' word) but we all had similar nylon raincoats. Occasionally you saw one with a matching nylon hat with a brim, at that time only small kids sizes had attached hoods, but quite often the shop would include a free accordion rainhat as a 'kicker' if you bought a nylon raincoat. Once I remember the offer was for two rainhats, 'one for the pocket and one for the handbag'. Most of us had umbrellas as well by the time we were teenagers but at school the rain hat was just so much less of a hassle.

Lots of nice comments from other ladies but not too many about the protection that a pakamac provides from the rain, which I have to say is why I wear mine. On the subject of rain I can’t quite believe I found an article about the weather in 1984 and Bedford of all places! It’s amazing that someone else remembers that bank holiday so it must have left quite an impression on us all. At least I know my memory is OK. If that isn’t enough my mum’s friend who lived in Flitwick called in the other day and I couldn’t resist asking her. She remembers the day we all went to the river festival very well, including the bad weather, so I can post more if it is interesting. I am trying to find a photograph from that year but of course it was before digital cameras. This is a nice discussion though.

Interesting the reminder of the Late May Bank Holiday of 1984. Although we had a good summer that year, that was a very wet Bank Holiday indeed. I remember wearing my long semi-transparent white plastic mac for much of that weekend. It was my first mac to have a hood (with drawstrings) and press-stud fasteners. Pure bliss as the raindrops trickled down the front and beat on the raised hood. The pockets though were open to the elements and they steadily filled with rainwater. I was ultimately forced to replace this much-loved mac when the top press-stud came away. But even happier times today as I have a super selection of plastic macs to choose from and I always look forward to the next bout of heavy rain.

Hi Beth thanks for the info your Mom sounds a great lady I have always got a mixed message over wearing a mac one girlfriend told me to get one once when we were out for the day somewere and it was raining so I got one from Burtons but a girl friend some time after was shocked when I called for her wearing one it was raining cats and dogs at the time when I told her Father had one she said but he is my Dad so a mixed picture on a scale of 1 to 10 were would you and all the other ladies rate Mr Darcy in a wet shirt or a nylon mac sorry i was late with a reply been out of the country.

Of course I'm a pleated plastic rain bonnet wearer BJ. I have many of them and keep spares in my handbag in their handy little pouches. I had the foresight to buy quite a few whenever I saw them for sale a few years ago. It can be a bit of a nuisance folding them back up neatly, but it's worth it. They look really cute on.

Even my beloved peaked ones seem more difficult to buy now, even though there are still loads of other ladies of my generation wearing them. My husband insists I wear one when we go out, which I'll do as long as it's not hot and sunny. They're really useful when dressing too, if I have my hair in curlers when it's still damp. I'll put a plastic rain bonnet on to stop my tops getting damp when pulling them over my head. That really captivates my husband.

There's something extremely feminine about a lady in a plastic rain bonnet. I have some styles that are quite old and have a nylon mesh inside. Very stylish. Did Pakamac ever sell matching macs and bonnets? I don't recall. Maybe one of you can enlighten me.

I don't think I have a plastic mac or a nylon mac that doesn't have a folded rain bonnet in a pocket. I remember those macs Constance, that were sold with matching rain bonnets. I particularly remember the nylon macs I bought in the 80s, that came with a small matching nylon rain bonnet. A real 60s look but not too good if I was wearing my hair up. Just too small to tie.

I've been skipping through all the replies here, going back years and I was particularly taken by the comment about what a lady might wear to attract her man. Yes the accepted norm seems to be the skimpy underwear etc. I think it's about how attractive I feel I am these things, but half of that may just be social conditioning. It's no secret that I feel attractive wearing my plastic mac and I know my husband agrees. I have no problem therefore wearing a plastic mac and plastic rain bonnet in the bedroom. In fact, over the years, I have come to insist on it! It's the only time I can lure him into wearing his.

Margaret were you a pleated rain hat wearer as well?

Colin I have collected circa a dozen pleated rain bonnets, yes they are getting harder to find and expensive. I have a nice pink pattern one, if you rember Suzie from pvc-u-like she is wearing one with a lovely plastic raincoat.

It seems there's quite a current of affection for the pleated rain hoods, which are difficult to find in the UK now.

However, they're reasonably easy to make provided one takes a bit of care to get all the pleats parallel.

I saw how to do it in a book called 'Adventures in Plastic' which my wife brought home from a school where she worked.

Unfortunately the title was deceptive since the book was mainly about making acrylic toast racks, serviette rings and the like, apart from that one article on rain hoods.

Just found this wonderful page and it has brought back so many good and happy memories of that wonderful garment. I for one miss it as I gather you all do. Fortunately I still have some genuine Pakamacs, still unworn, in their original bags. I'm too frightened to wear them because they are absolutely precious to me. I should have them framed.

I still wear plastic macs but I buy them new, online. I also wear nylon macs and my favourites are the navy blue Rainstar styles. The ones like Constance refers to, which I wore at school too. I wore them at college and for work as well. My husband loves me to wear them (and the plastic macs) whenever and wherever go. He even insisted I wore one on our honeymoon, which I gladly did.

I think you are correct Constance saying that men must be too scared or something to be seen wearing a foldup mac. I know my husband is, which is a pity when I am overjoyed to wear them for him.

I wear a lot of expensive smart outfits but I feel so much better about my look if I wear one of my beloved Rainstar macs. I don't know what it is, it's so incongruous but for me it works. There isn't an item of clothing that I wouldn't team with a plastic mac or a nylon mac, whether it's Rainstar, Pakamac or whatever.

This lady certainly bemoans the loss of foldaway rainwear from the high street. It won't stop me wearing them though, just because they are not the current vogue. You can't fault a classic look.

Gareth if anyone thought my recent posting was too good this might help. I asked my mum about the river festival and she thought the festival I could remember was probably in 1984 rather than 1985 and was held over the whitsun bank holiday at the end of May which probably explains why I remember it so well. I found a website called weatheronline and if you search ‘weatheronline bank holiday blues’ they say 1984 was one of the worst spring bank holidays in the last 40 years with unrelenting rain. I didn’t know this when I posted my note but it’s no wonder I remember my mum and her friend wearing plastic macs because according to weatheronline almost two inches (four weeks' worth) of rain fell over the weekend and they actually go on to say that in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hertfordshire it rained for 66 of the 72 hours of the long weekend! I'm sure her mac was from c&a in the town and as Bedford gets a specific mention you can see why she needed it.

I found the history world site because I remembered the pakamac name and it has been interesting to see how many people have said they like pakamacs and other items of rainwear because they remember them from when they were popular. As my wife said she wears a plastic mac largely because it’s the sort of the rainwear everyone wore when she was younger and she hasn’t found anything better since. Everyone who has asked where she bought it has also been of a similar age to us. I am sure that as with other fashions people like what they grew up with and wish things were still like that. Do other people feel the same way?

Hi BJ,
Thanks for the information you supplied I looked up Alicia Harts articles on Google news archives but I could not find the June 1954 article you described, so I think it has been removed.
I believe the accordion type of rain bonnet first appeared in about 1950/51 because if you look very closely in the film " Royal Journey " shot in Canada in 1951 about princess Elizabeth's royal tour of Canada 53 minute's in you will find a woman in a grey coat waving at the royal car on her head is a brand new accordion type rain bonnet with plastic ties that you can still see where it was folded up in the pouch, this is the oldest sighting I have seen.
But I would love to know the first year of manufacture.
Keith.

My first memory of a plastic mac was my mum wearing a green one with just a belt and hood strings to keep it done up for her walk to and from work in the 1950's.
Later on she had a rubber lined one with a separate tie on hood and I bought a pink hooded one for my girlfriend (now married for 48 years) in the 1960's.
Alas, she'd never taken to them.