In this little potted overview of different types of coat I am aware I have left out many different
types of coat. Please feel welcome to contribute to make the thread more complete. Once again enjoy! And if you really like it consider printing the illustrations out and taking it to your tailor.
Tailors' patterns can be posted at your request for some of these garments.
1. The Frock Overcoat or Top Frock Coat (Taglioni Great Coat after Minister, 1853)
The frock overcoat was cut like a frock coat except a little longer to reach below the knees. Note the
absence of the side pockets in the first example and of a chest pocket in the second. Frock coats
(and dress coats) traditionally have no external pockets at all.
Of all types of overcoats the frock overcoat is the most formal as outlined in the magazine Fashion
from England dated 1902. However, by the time this chart was in print, the Chesterfield had rapidly
gained acceptability for wear with full dress both during the day and for the evening:
2. The Paletot
Notice the presence of side bodies visible from the back. Double breasted paletots did also exist.
Single breasted paletots were made with a fly front. The presence of the seam which descended
from the arm-hole to the top of the flapped pocket at the hip is another characteristic. The paletot
had dual side vents in contrast to the single centre vent of the Chesterfield.
3. The Paddock Coat (Double Breasted Version Shown)
The paddock coat and paletot were distinguished by purists from the fact that a paletot had side
bodies which allowed greater waist suppression. However, the two terms were generally used
interchangeably:
4. The Chesterfield Coat (Oversack in American English)
Both the single breasted fly-front version and the double breasted version are shown:
The single breasted coat on the right is unusual in what appear to be satin faced lapels rather than
the usual velvet collar as in the examples to the left and in the centre.
5. The Ulster Overcoat
6. The Inverness
Inverness Cape
The Inverness cape differs from the Ulster coat in that the latter has sleeves. The Inverness was
often made in solid dark colours and worn with full dress.
7. The Opera Coat
8. The Cleric Coat
Originally a livery coat for coachmen it later became a fashion item in the late 18th century.
George Augustus Sala wrote lamenting its demise in 1859:
This venerable garment had a cape, which, in wet or snowy weather, when travelling outside the
'Highlander' coach, you turned over your head. Your father wore it before you , and you hoped to
leave it to your eldest son. Solemn repairs - careful renovations of buttons and braidings were done
to it, from time to time. A new great coat was an event - a thing to be remembered as happening
once or so in a lifetime
This one dates from 1812:
This elegant example dates from the 1820-30s (it is said to have belonged to a woman but the way
the buttons close suggest it may have more likely belonged to a man):
9. The Fur Lined Great Coat
This went by various inconsistent names eg pilot coat, pellise. Definitions for these term are too
contradictory for them to be useful.
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