While similar , the heavy metal and Goth fashion trend of black oilcloth dusters are usually ( incorrectly ) referred to as trench coats . Early media reports of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre initially associated the perpetrators ( Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold ) with members of the " Trenchcoat Mafia " , a group of outcasts who allegedly wore conspicuous black Australian oilcloth dusters . In the copycat W. R. Myers High School shooting days later , it was rumored the shooter had worn a trench coat . In the wake of these incidents , many public schools in the US forbade students from wearing trench coats , both because of their cultural associations and on the grounds that they could be used to conceal weapons
W. R. Myers High School shooting
W. R. Myers High School shooting
Trench coat