Summer Double-breasted Cutaway Tailcoat

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This summer double-breasted cutaway tailcoat from about 1815 looks fresh enough for wear today. Its shaping is the counterpart of womenswear of the period with its high waist, breadth at the shoulders, and emphasis on the chest. Faux flap pockets occur at each hip front, the flaps of which are rounded to a point in the center. As many have observed, menswear of this period, just before the Great Male Renunciation when men spurned any of the ostensible signs of fashion, was acutely responsive to womenswear.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art