13 Coats of the Last Few Centuries

Summer Double-breasted Cutaway Tailcoat

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.

Summer Double-breasted Cutaway Tailcoat
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Empire Coat

In the early years of the nineteenth century, there was a profound harmony between men's and women's silhouettes in dress. In the Empire style, the high waists and puffed chests of menswear match the silhouette of women's clothing. In the 1830s, menswear accommodated the gigot sleeve of womenswear in its use of a new fullness at the sleeve cap. The typical men's ensemble of tailcoat, waistcoat, and trousers prevailed by the 1820s and 1830s, as breeches were supplanted by long trousers.

Empire Coat
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Striped French Coat

This young man’s tailcoat, with its high turned-down collar, narrow back, and wide lapels, exemplifies the exaggerated silhouette fashionable in post-revolutionary France. Striped textiles, modish from the 1760s, were ubiquitous in the dress of both sexes by the end of the century. In menswear, stripes served as a decorative substitute for the ornate, polychrome embroidery of earlier suits. The trend reflects the influence of Orientalism and neoclassical taste; in earlier centuries, stripes had pejorative connotations in the West and were associated with the clothing of socially marginalized groups.

Striped French Coat
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Bucksin Floral Coat

The "noble savage" is a conceit of the Enlightenment, evidence of the imperialist dialectic between "civilized" Europeans and the "uncivilized" inhabitants of the new and exotic colonies. A common consequence of colonization was the fusion of Western and indigenous dress, as can be seen in the fringed coat of the Métis of North America. Cut in the style of a nineteenth-century frock coat, it is made from buckskin ornamented with floral motifs and roundels.

Bucksin Floral Coat
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Macaroni Coat

Here is a dashing coat that anticipates the Macaroni exaggeration that will characterize menswear in the 1790s. In this early example, the proportions are already attenuating; there is a very high turn to the collar, though not yet to the point of caricature. This transitional garment is placed then right on the crucial years of the French Revolution and is remarkable as an extant garment from that time.

Macaroni Coat
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Kimono Coat

The kimono and the bamboo pattern are principal signifiers of Japan in the West. The adaptation of a theater coat from the silhouette of the kimono accommodates styles and needs of the Western market but also retains close identification with Japanese sources. By 1900, exoticism was customarily accompanied by reductivism, accepting and exacerbating the potential of Asian dress for modernism. This theater coat was published in the January-March 1900 issue of the fashion magazine, The Delineator.

Kimono Coat
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Light Indian Coat

A form of the word "seersucker" in 1757 is first cited by the Oxford English Dictionary as "sirsakas." By this time, the light Indian fabric of crimped or puckered surface was being imported into Europe. Later, it would be imitated in European and American manufacture, its lax and washable cotton fabric becoming favored for menswear and children's clothing. A summer frock coat of this kind assumes the same cut as a wool coat, distilling at this time into black or gray, for winter.

Light Indian Coat
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Eiderdown Coat

The ultimate luxury of the North was wintry warmth achieved in the white-on-white harmony of a textural eiderdown coat. A luxurious camouflage in the monochromatic landscape of the season, this coat anticipates a later version worn by Czarina Alexandra.

Eiderdown Coat
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Frock Coat

Another English influence on European fashions was the adoption of the frac, or frock coat. It had a rolled collar, narrow sleeves with small cuffs, and a short waistline with cutaway tails. A late version, like this example from the 1790s, was cut almost to the middle of the chest to show a good portion of the waistcoat when it was buttoned; the frac was worn with contrasting breeches. The fine muslin stock worn with this jacket was wrapped around the neck several times and tied in a large knot under the chin.

Frock Coat
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Boy's Coat

This boy's coat is a handsome example of a child's dressy outer garment to be worn when the child is on display. The garment is in excellent condition and shows very little wear. It is possible that it may have been worn by two children as the skirt was originally two inches longer, which changes the proportion of the cape to the skirt length of the coat. The cord embroidery on the coat is very elaborate and nicely textured.

Boy's Coat
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Gold Sleeveless Coat

This sleeveless coat from Shkodër (Scutari) on the Albanian-Montenegrin border demonstrates a remarkable degree of craftsmanship in its lavish use of gold cord, variety of curvilinear shapes, and use of negative space. The density of applied work against velvet is meant to replicate a rich and complex compound weave. The motifs show influences drawn from Ottoman design and demonstrate the cross-cultural effects of the region.

Gold Sleeveless Coat
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Girl's Fur Coat

This charming girl's coat mimics an adult fur-trimmed coat. Well-cut, it not only fits nicely but also creates a stylish appearance. The buckle is eye-catching and quite sophisticated.

Girl's Fur Coat
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Juliette Hollenback's Coat

Juliette Geneva Hollenback (1881-1917) was the youngest daughter of the prominent financier and philanthropist John Welles Hollenback (1835-1927). The members of the Hollenback family were avid travelers, making frequently trips throughout Europe and the United States. Made for Juliette in Paris, this charming coat was made in the style of Renoir's "Girl with Watering Can"

Juliette Hollenback's Coat
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