Rainwear Central Rainwear Forum

Who wore the yellow reversible raincoat during the '70s/'80s?
Those lovely buttery pvc yellow and navy canvas coats were so popular back then with girls and adults. Not many boys wore them perhaps because of the canary colouring and female looking style.
I was one of those boys in the minority who actually liked them. However, admiring them from afar is one thing, being brought into a Primark store by mother to try one was another issue altogether. Rails of yellow coats brightened the area of the store without the need for artificial lighting.
My mum bought me one along with yellow and navy wellies.
I was 16, thought I was all grown up, but the raincoat and wellies soon brought me back down to the young looking boy I really was. I had to wear them to school with nylon navy rainpants, to town and the local shops.
I secretly loved my yellow coat and my hormonal changes to young adulthood were seemingly suspended ad infinitum as I remained this young looking boy yet to grow up and face the real world.
Perhaps my mum wanted me to retain my boyish innocence and such a coat with obligatory wellies and rainpants restrained me from that natural progression from teenager to adult.
The most embarrassing times was wearing them outdoors in front of friends. I would try to act cool, nonchalant, and carefree. Inside I was so embarrassed as they poked fun at me. I would laugh at their attempted ridicule of me, secretly hoping the ground would open up and swallow me. When wearing outdoors alone I would often feel a bulge in my undies followed a few minutes later by the familiar wetness. It was the thought that did it. Thinking of girls walking alongside me wearing their yellow reversibles too. Don't know if girls got the same sexual thrills as boys did from wearing them.
Standing with my friends was always a challenge. There I would be, the only one of the boys and girls, with my coat zipped up fully and deep hood tied with the chin straps and my hands tucked into the from coat pickets made me feel so secure as the raindrops ran down my coat past my rainpants and wellies.
I wore several of these coats to college and work and always received positive compliments from people, mostly women who either wore one themselves or wished they had one.
Alas, I have not had one for many years but wonder if they will make a welcome reappearance on the high streets. Who knows.

I had one of those raincoats when I was around grade 6, thought it was yellow and green. As a matter of a fact in my childhood I had 3 raincoats with PVC on both sides, I'm just unsure if the other two raincoats were reversible or not but I don't think they were.

I like how you mentioned wearing rainpants with your raincoats because back then I so wanted to have matching rain pants to go with my raincoats. Rainpants in a bib pant style similar to snowpants that is. I would go play in the snow in my snow suit so I thought why don't I have a rain suit to play in the rain.

It's funny that you started this post just now because a few days ago in a co-op general store I saw a rack with nice reversible raincoats in a few different color combinations.

I believe the original ones on the market, certainly in the UK, were yellow rubber on a blue canvas type material/ Probably not as coarse as canvas but quite a strong fabric nevertheless. Later versions came on the market which had a yellow pvc instead of the rubber. I think Millets sold a yellow pvc on a green fabric although there may have been many other outlets selling them.

In Australia, I bought some beautiful shiny yellow/blue 100% PVC rainsuits from a mail order company called 'Innovations'. The outside was a very shiny, smooth yellow with a matt blue lining. They could be ordered with the jacket only or jacket & rainpants combination.

I wish now I'd had the foresight to order more than one set because my rainpants eventually split after several years of use.

They appear to have been common around that time in more than one country, as I've seen the occasional jacket for sale on eBay.

I first saw one of these anoraks when I started my first full time job on leaving school, one of my colleagues often wore one. At the time I would not have dared to buy or wear one especially when I was still living with my parents. Much later on I bought one when I had a place of my own and later still I found another one in a charity shop, although both of these soon began to tear at the armpits. From what I remember they were often sold as special offers from newspapers and magazines, at least in the U.K.

My favourite raincoats of all time! I have about 20 of the blue and yellow reversible original style pvc ones and about 6 of the modern pvc u like ones with matching trousers

Had a yellow and blue one for quite a long time before it split

Just loved wearing them. I remember a few compliments I got from girls when wearing it. They would say:"I love your raincoat. Where did you buy it?".
"I had a raincoat like yours, my sister had one too".
" A lady has just left the shop wearing the same raincoat as yours. She wears it everyday".

A girl in our 6th form wore one. It was usually yellow side out but sometimes she reversed it. I was transfixed, both by her beauty and her coat. She also had a Peter Storm cagoule (full zip) but seemed to wear the navy/yellow one more often. If only I hadn't been so shy then..

In my youth I unfortunately never had a yellow reversible raincoat. I did once have the opportunity to wear the reversible raincoat of my comrade's sister, but I was too stubborn for that in puberty, even though I secretly kept looking at the coat when it hung on the coat rack. I still regret it.

Fortunately, I found such a raincoat on Vinted for a small amount of money and bought it. It is made from shiny yellow pvc on the outside and matt blue pvc on the inside. It is a delight to wear with nothing underneath