Rainwear Steeles The Show

Everybody Knows that trench coats and private eyes go together like Nick and Nora Charles and Bogey and Bacall. Columbo practically slept in a battered Burberry (or whatever brand it was) and we don't even want to think about what Mike Hammer might have done in his. Pierce Brosnan, the man of the TV detective series Remington Steele, brings a more tailored image to the tattered trench. Can you imagine him squiring his gorgeous gumshoe boss, Laura Holt, played by Stephanie Zimbalist, around town in something that resembles a belted dog blanket? Brosnan's classy good looks and sexy, unaffected style are the perfect complements to the downpour of water-repellent togs that have flooded the men's fashion market. Rubberized trenches, for example, in a variety of cutsand colors, have whetted everyone's interest; styles range from a reversible treated-cotton and black-ribbed-rubber model to a white military-style coal of water-repellent cotton. White, incidentally, is great to wear while walking in the wet, as it bounces light up into your face, improving your complexion and making you more visible on rainy nights. Other foul-weather tips to the wise: Wear dark to medium-dark trousers on a wet day, as they tend to show raindrops less. Keep your raincoat shade conservative, but jazz up your image with a bright umbrella, sweater or tie. And swap your leather attaché for a water-repellent rubber or treated-metal one. Rubber is the new fashion status material that has just slid into the stores. Let's hear it for Akron!