I've found that a lot of times people mistake the trench coat as a Matrix thing when they see you wearing one, that or they think you're going to break out in shooting things with the gun you have hidden. Some people might want to go for this kind of image when they where one, but the reason I wear one goes a bit further back into my childhood than that.
Truth is, as soon as I realized that I could wear one, I was, which was before any of these silly things (Matrix, shootings) had really come around. My first was the classic tan trench coat (if I can find pictures I'll post them later), which I don't think are really in style anymore somehow, but which I still see every now and again during the winter. I would guess either late elementary or early Junior High as the time that I started wearing it, and why? What would make me think (and still think) that the trench coat is so great. It all goes back to one of my ultimate, and original heroes, one that had actually slipped my mind for a while, but may help explain a few things.
This right here, the picture to the left, this is probably the earliest I can remember ever having a hero from a movie, Dick Tracy, he was just plain awesome to me when the movie came out back in 1990. The toy Dick Tracy watch that doubled as a light (but which in the movie, and in my mind, doubled as a radio) was probably my first piece of gear, the coat didn't follow for quite a few years, but Dick Tracy is still the reason that I got it, yeah, he stuck with me that long.Now, isn't that just so much cooler? Dick Tracy will probably always be the penultimate detective and police officer in my mind, a really good guy who knew what was right and what was wrong, but who was still human, he had his strengths and weaknesses, wasn't perfect, but did his best. I can honestly say he was a role model for me back then, and actually kind of helped to form who I am today, from what I wear and what I'm interested in, all the way to my personality and sense of justice.
Of course, not all credit goes here, without the myriad of other influences in my life this would have just been another movie to me. After all, if the seed hadn't already been planted in me, how would I ever have even taken note of this fictional detective? Anyway, in a round about way, that's the story of my trench coat, I graduated from the tan, to the a gray blue coat that I wore through high school and up until I served a mission, from my mission on I've worn the black coat that most of you probably recognize the best. It's just a part of my life now, and represents to me, something more than what it does to most people today. It's right and wrong, justice, it's being imperfect, but doing your best. Besides the fact that, well, it's just plain cool.