Shopping with experts: Mackintosh rainwear

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Another day, another luxury shop opens in London. Sorry to be writing about so many expensive things, if there were some cheaper brands opening stores I would be there like a shot, but it's all about luxury at the moment. 

I went through the doors of the new Mackintosh rainwear store on Mount Street yesterday and I thought it was a little disappointing in terms of store design, the space is small and all the coats are behind glass wardrobes, so if you are in anyway intimidated by stores like this (and see our comments from LN-CC to see that many people are) you might walk straight out. It's been designed by the uber-hip Japanese architect firm Wonderwall too, so that's surprising. 

But as soon as you chat to one of the staff things improve, and the coats are really terrific. This is Mackintosh's first ever store, which is amazing when you realise they make the waterproof coats for every luxury brand there is, including Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Hermes and the firm has been going since 1823.

The Mackintosh is completely rainproof, the fabric being the clever thing. And every coat is fully made in the UK, mostly in Scotland, where the company is based. Once available in classic colours only, the brand is rocking the fluoros for summer and the bright yellow one in the window looked just the thing to keep the rainy day blues away.The shapes are honed to perfection over years of experience and the hand made, short classic mac was the one I'd buy if I had a spare £525 (price likely to go up for the spring range, that pesky VAT increase). The pink, lime green and yellow were great but I also loved the zebra print black and white one, which would be a joy to wear. 

And as the ladies in the store were quick to point out, this is not a huge amount to pay for a quality coat, one that will last forever. You could pay a lot more for something not even waterproof. I really liked the quilted coats with snuggly linings at £320, although the sales ladies did say they sold these to 'older customers' so maybe I'm gettin' too into the frumpy vibe…..

Still, we're definitely talking investment dressing, and we get enough rain here in the UK to justify it, if only we had some money to invest. And if you are reading Mackintosh, you could smarten up the coats and do up the buttons on the window displays (untidy!)

104 Mount St, London W1K2TL

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