I'm trying to find a rain coat that I can take to Italy but am so far having no luck. My first try was an online order from REI--it took 3+ weeks to arrive at the store, and the sleeves were too short. I returned it and resumed my search.
My most recent try was another online order from TravelSmith (which has since been removed from my favorite shopping sites list). I ordered the small, which was supposed to fit sizes 6 or 8. Unfortunately (for me, though perhaps not for those who delude themselves about their size), the jacket was roomy enough for me and several friends--it was more like a 12 or 14. And the sleeves were 2 inches too short. I sent it back with a note saying that they had no jackets that would fit (I called, and the sleeves are too short on all of them), and I already paid $14 in shipping, and if they charged me another $7 in return shipping, I would never shop from them again. I'm still waiting for their decision, but in the meanwhile, it's back to the drawing board.
Last night, I was sharing my rain coat drama with B, and he told me that I should get a "bespoke" rain coat. I told him that I didn't know the word, and what did it mean? He jumped up and ran over to our bookshelves, asking along the way where the dictionary was. I had to break the unfortunate news that we don't own a dictionary.
"How is that possible?" he roared (pardon my hyperbole--but I'm doing my best to make a conversation about dictionaries seem interesting).
I should interject here--because this piece of knowledge is critical to the story--both B and I majored in English in college. You'd think that two English majors would own a minimum of two dictionaries. But it just isn't so.
"Well," I explained, "You never owned a dictionary. I never owned a dictionary. So even when we combined all of our stuff, we still didn't have a dictionary."
Another interjection--technically, we do own several dictionaries, but they are not dictionaries of the English language. I own a dictionary of computer terminology as well as a Spanish-English dictionary, which B thought might be an acceptable substitute.
"These definitions are all in Spanish!" he cried.
"Maybe you could tell me what the word means," I suggested.
He explained that bespoke refers to an item of clothing that is created just for you, based upon your measurements. I said it sounded like an interesting idea, but a rain coat would be an unusual choice for that kind of investment. B acknowledged that the price tag would likely be steeper than I was hoping to pay, but wouldn't it be cool to have an article of clothing that fit me and only me--and fit me perfectly.
Yes, it would be nice, but I decided not to give up my (more frugal) online search yet. The problem is that I have two criteria on which I don't want to compromise: The jacket has to have sleeves that are at least 24.5" long, and it can't have a belt.
The sleeves issue is obvious--my albatross-like limbs must be covered. The belt issue is a little trickier.
I think a lot of people think that someone like me (i.e. tall and thin) can wear anything, but it's not true. I learned that lesson when trying on wedding dresses and 90% of them looked terrible on me. I ended up buying my wedding dress in part because it was the only one that didn't look awful. And raincoats with belts highlight the same issue that wedding dresses do, so I am dealing with similar restrictions--no belts allowed.
I found an option with long-enough sleeves and no belt on bluefly.com, but the description didn't explicitly say that it was water-resistant. I decided to take a gamble and buy it anyway (I will do the sleeve/sink test when it arrives). I hope that the third time will be the charm on this great rain coat experiment (and by "great," I mean neverending and painful).
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