Just to add my $.02, I'd say that black is not always the ultimate choice in trenchness. I own (quick count) 5 trench coats, and they all have their own personalities. The 2 tan ones serve equally well, especially with the tattered fedora, to apply the P.I. look, which is rather convenient when I want someone to think they're being tailed. The long, gray one serves excellently as an actual rain coat, because, for some non-physical reason, it is apparently completely impervious to getting wet. The wide, gray, featureless one is nice because it has the effect of making people say "Hey, where've I seen that coat before? Oh yeah! It was on the guys carrying Kennedy's coffin!" And lastly, my favorite is a nice dark olive drab, which, when appropriately worn with the hair down, in the rain, mumbling to oneself, is almost guaranteed to make people think you're an old crazed marine suffering from shell shock. See? They all have their uses. Take it from a guy who got his first trench about age 6....