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An overcoat is a type of long
coat A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, ...
intended to be worn as the outermost garment, which usually extends below the knee. Overcoats are most commonly used in
winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultur ...
when warmth is more important. They are sometimes confused with or referred to as topcoats, which are shorter and end at or above the knees. Topcoats and overcoats together are known as outercoats. Unlike overcoats, topcoats are usually made from lighter weight cloth such as gabardine or covert, while overcoats are made from heavier cloth or fur.


History

In many countries, coats and gowns reaching below the knee have been worn for centuries, often for formal uses, establishing either social status or as part of a professional or military uniform. In the 17th century, the overcoat became widely stylized and available to the different classes. In the
Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
, the general profile of overcoats has remained largely unchanged for a long time. During the Regency, the fashion was to have very form-fitting clothes, with sidebodies, waist seams, and a flared skirt. Examples of this included the frock overcoat and
paletot A paletot is a type of topcoat. The name is French, but etymologically derived from the Middle English word ''paltok'', meaning a kind of jacket. Historically, it was a semi-fitted to fitted coat, double-breasted or single-breasted, the f ...
.


Chesterfield coat

The over-frock coat gradually shifted to the looser styles more common now, typified by the
Chesterfield coat The Chesterfield is a formal, dark, knee-length overcoat with a velvet collar introduced around the 1840s in the United Kingdom, with prominence attributed to its namesake George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield, then a leader of British fas ...
, which became popular by the end of the Victorian period. Until then, most coats were double-breasted, but Chesterfields and accompanying styles like the guard's coat were worn in both single- and double-breasted varieties. More recently, there is a decline in the wearing of full-length overcoats, and double-breasted ones are much less common.


Greatcoat

Overcoats in various forms have been used by militaries since at least the late 18th century, and were especially associated with winter campaigns, such as
Napoleon's Russian campaign The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental blo ...
. The full-length overcoat was once again popularised by the use during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
of the
trench coat A trench coat or trenchcoat is a variety of coat made of waterproof heavy-duty fabric, originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and becoming popular while used in the trenches. Originally made from gabardin ...
. Stereotypically, overcoats used by the army tended to be single-breasted, while navies often used double-breasted overcoats. Overcoats continued to be used as battle dress until the mid-1940s and 1950s, when they were deemed impractical. However, in colder countries, such as the former
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, they continue to be issued and used. When more efficient clothing and synthetic fibres became readily available, the overcoat began to be phased out even there.


Topcoat


Examples of overcoats

Some of the most common historical overcoats, in roughly chronological order.


References

{{Authority control Coats (clothing) History of clothing (Western fashion)