trench coat

Name: Burberry trench coat
Brand: Burberry
Availability: InStock

Rick Blaine in Casablanca, 1942 — as worn by Humphrey Bogart

In Casablanca’s final airport sequence, Rick Blaine arrives on the fog-bound airfield in a light tan trench coat, the garment cutting a clear silhouette against the night mist, the waiting aircraft and the hard lines of the runway.

The scene

In Casablanca’s final airport sequence, Rick Blaine arrives on the fog-bound airfield in a light tan trench coat, the garment cutting a clear silhouette against the night mist, the waiting aircraft and the hard lines of the runway. The moment unfolds beside the Lisbon-bound plane as Rick brings Ilsa Lund and Victor Laszlo to the departure point, with Captain Renault nearby and the atmosphere reduced to shadow, vapor and engine noise.

At this stage of the story, Rick is no longer the detached café owner introduced earlier in the film. In the airport scene he controls the movement around him with unusual calm, guiding Ilsa and Laszlo toward the plane while concealing his resolve beneath the coat’s military formality. The trench carries that shift beautifully: practical, guarded and slightly severe, it belongs to a man who has decided to act rather than drift.

Michael Curtiz and cinematographer Arthur Edeson use the coat as part of the scene’s graphic economy. Its pale tone separates Bogart from the darker uniforms and the black night behind him, while the broad lapels, belted waist and turned-up collar read instantly even through the fog. In close framing and medium shots alike, the trench becomes one of the visual anchors of the farewell, holding Bogart’s outline steady as the scene moves toward departure and sacrifice.

Archive — the object

Burberry traces the trench coat to the company Thomas Burberry founded in Basingstoke in 1856, and to gabardine, the weather-resistant fabric he patented in 1888. The modern Burberry account of the trench identifies it as a core house design and links its construction to military-derived details including epaulettes, a belt and storm protection, while fashion histories continue to cite Humphrey Bogart’s Casablanca publicity imagery and screen association as part of the garment’s expansion from service wear into cinema costume.

The Burberry trench is defined by cotton gabardine, a tightly woven fabric developed to repel weather while remaining breathable. Current Burberry heritage trench coats are made from shower-resistant gabardine and retain the classic double-breasted front, belted waist, cuff straps, epaulettes and checked lining that formalised the type across the twentieth century. Burberry states that its heritage trench coats are made in Yorkshire and that the lining uses the Burberry Check introduced to coat linings in the 1920s.

In Casablanca, the on-screen coat attributed to Rick Blaine is a light tan or beige trench in the established Burberry idiom, with the broad lapels, long belted body and officer-derived detailing that made the design legible on screen even in low-key black-and-white photography. Because the production predates modern SKU-level fashion documentation, the exact archival variant and factory specification for Bogart’s screen-worn coat are not publicly established in the same way as current retail models.

Burberry still sells men’s heritage trench coats in honey beige and related neutral tones through its official retail collection, confirming the design remains available new rather than surviving only through vintage resale.

Acquisition ticket

AvailabilityAvailable New

MakerBurberry

Where to find it

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Production Notes

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