Coat (clothing)

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, a belt, or a combination of some of these. Other possible features include collars, shoulder straps and hoods.

Etymology

''Coat'' is one of the earliest clothing category words in English, attested as far back as the early Middle Ages. (''See also'' Clothing terminology.) The Oxford English Dictionary traces ''coat'' in its modern meaning to c. 1300, when it was written ''cote'' or ''cotte''. The word coat stems from Old French and then Latin ''cottus.'' It originates from the Proto-Indo-European word for woolen clothes.

An early use of ''coat'' in English is coat of mail (chainmail), a tunic-like garment of metal rings, usually knee- or mid-calf length.

History

The origins of the Western-style coat can be traced to the sleeved, close-fitted and front-fastened coats worn by the nomads of the Central Asian steppes in the eleventh century, though this style of coat may be much older, having been found with four-thousand-year-old Tarim mummies. The medieval and renaissance coat (generally spelled ''cote'' or ''cotte'' by costume historians) is a mid-length, sleeved outer garment worn by both men and women, fitted to the waist and buttoned up the front, with a full skirt in its essentials, not unlike the modern coat.

By the eighteenth century, overcoats had begun to supplant capes and cloaks as outerwear in Western fashion. Before the Industrial Revolution, which began in the second half of the eighteenth century, the extremely high cost of cloth meant certain styles of clothing represented wealth and rank, but as cloth became more affordable post-industrialization, people within a lower social class could adopt the fashionable outdoor wear of the wealthy elite, which, notably, included a coat. In the nineteenth century, the invention of the sewing machine paired with existing textile machinery increased the affordability of mass-produced, ready-to-wear clothing and helped spur the popularity of wearing coats and jackets. By the mid-twentieth century the terms ''jacket'' and ''coat'' became confused for recent styles; the difference in use is still maintained for older garments.

Coats, jackets and overcoats

In the early 19th century, Western-style coats were divided into under-coats and overcoats. The term "under-coat" is now archaic but denoted the fact that the word ''coat'' could be both the outermost layer for outdoor wear ( overcoat) or the coat is worn under that (under-coat). However, the term ''coat'' has begun to denote just the overcoat rather than the under-coat. The older usage of the word ''coat'' can still be found in the expression "to wear a coat and tie", which does not mean that wearer has on an overcoat. Nor do the terms '' tailcoat'', '' morning coat'' or house coat denote types of overcoat. Indeed, an overcoat may be worn over the top of a tailcoat. In tailoring circles, the tailor who makes all types of coats is called a ''coat maker''. Similarly, in American English, the term '' sports coat'' is used to denote a type of jacket not worn as outerwear (overcoat) (''sports jacket'' in British English).

The term ''jacket'' is a traditional term usually used to refer to a specific type of short under-coat.Oxford English Dictionary. (1989) 2nd ed. jacket, ''n.'' "...a short coat without tails..." Typical modern jackets extend only to the upper thigh in length, whereas older coats such as tailcoats are usually of knee length. The modern jacket worn with a suit is traditionally called a '' lounge coat'' (or a ''lounge jacket'') in British English and a ''sack coat'' in American English. The American English term is rarely used. Traditionally, the majority of men dressed in a ''coat and tie'', although this has become gradually less widespread since the 1960s. Because the basic pattern for the stroller (black jacket worn with striped trousers in British English) and dinner jacket ( tuxedo in American English) are the same as lounge coats, tailors traditionally call both of these special types of jackets a ''coat''.

An overcoat is designed to be worn as the outermost garment worn as outdoor wear;Oxford English Dictionary. (1989) 2nd ed. overcoat, ''n.'' "A large coat worn over the ordinary clothing..." while this use is still maintained in some places, particularly in Britain, elsewhere the term ''coat'' is commonly used mainly to denote only the overcoat, and not the under-coat. A ''topcoat'' is a slightly shorter overcoat, if any distinction is to be made. Overcoats worn over the top of knee length coats (under-coats) such as frock coats, dress coats, and morning coats are cut to be a little longer than the under-coat so as to completely cover it, as well as being large enough to accommodate the coat underneath.

The length of an overcoat varies: mid-calf being the most frequently found and the default when current fashion isn't concerned with hemlines. Designs vary from knee-length to ankle-length, briefly fashionable in the early 1970s and known (to contrast with the usurped mini) as the "maxi".Christopher Booker (1980) The Seventies

Speakers of American English sometimes informally use the words ''jacket'' and ''coat'' interchangeably.''Oxford English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, 1971

Types

18th and 19th centuries

Men's

Some of these styles are still worn. Note that for this period, only coats of the under-coat variety are listed, and overcoats are excluded.

File:Voet-duque de medinacelli-prado.jpg, alt=Oil painting of a white man with a large, curled wig of a medium brown. He is wearing a red coat ostentatiously decorated with cording of horizontal, diamond-shaped designs. The coat is fitted to the hips where it flares out and stops at the knees. The sleeves are long and fitted with lace around the cuffs. Lace also falls over the neck of the coat. Underneath the coat, the man is wearing black stockings and black shoes. He is holding a walking stick and standing next to a table covered in red and gold cloth., Justacorps, a seventeenth and eighteenth century knee-length coat, fitted to the waist with flared skirts
File:Frock Coat April 1904.jpg, alt=A black-and-white drawing of a white woman and white man getting married. The woman is wearing a white gown that is loose at the top, fitted at the waist, and loose to the ground with a small bustle at the rear. The man is wearing a long, black coat that fastens off-center and reaches just past his knees with slight waist definition. The sleeves of his jacket are slender but not tight and reach his wrists. Beneath this he has on a white shirt with a high collar, just visible beneath the coat's V-neck, and slim dark trousers over black shoes. The woman is wearing a veil over her hair but the man is not wearing a hat. There is a flower on his lapel, and the woman is holding a bouquet., Frock coat, a kneelength men's coat of the nineteenth century
File:Morning dress 1901.jpg, alt=A black-and-white drawing of a white man in a top hat and an open coat that is cut so that it reaches to his knees in the back but it open in the front, curving in toward the waist. The sleeves are long and fitted but not tight. Beneath the coat, he is wearing striped, fitted trousers, a vest, and a white shirt with a high collar. He is holding a walking stick., Morning coat or cutaway, a dress coat still worn as formal wear
File:Mens evening wear costumes parisiens 1912.jpg, alt=A cartoon of a white man with hands in his trouser pockets. He is wearing a black coat with long tails down the back but cut in a way that it stops at the waist in the front. Beneath the coat he is wearing a white shirt, low-cut white vest, and black trousers., Tailcoat (dress coat in tailor's parlance), a late eighteenth century men's coat preserved in today's white tie and tails
File:BlackWatch Jacket (Borodino Battlefield Museum).jpg, alt=A color photograph of a red coat cut high-waisted in the front and slightly longer in the back so that it reaches the hips. There is white cording in a spade-like design along the fasteners and wool puffs along the shoulders. The collar is high and black but opens at in a V-shape along the neck. The cuffs are also black with white cording in the same spade-like design like that along the front fasteners., Coatee, an early 19th-century military coat, still worn with Highland dress.
File:Duke and Hitoshi Narita 2002.jpg, alt=A color photograph of three men standing together, each wearing black jackets and black trousers. The jacket is open in a deep V-shape toward the waist where it buttons. Each man is wearing a bow tie over the collar of their white shirts and each has a pocket handkerchief sticking out of their breast pocket. Their shoes are black., Dinner jacket, a men's semi-formal evening lounge coat.
File:NewYearsEve01.jpg, alt=A white man with a goatee is wearing a maroon-colored jacket that ties around the middle with black ribbon. The lapels are wide and black. The jacket is open to the waist, showing a white, high collared shirt beneath with a black bowtie. The man is holding two champagne glasses., Smoking jacket, a men's jacket worn informally with black tie
File:John F Kennedy Official Portrait.jpg, alt=A painting of a white man, former American president John F. Kennedy, wearing a gray-colored coat that reaches past his hips and is cut in a rounded shape around the front hem. It fastens at the waist. The sleeves are long and fitted to his wrists with the cuffs of the white shirt beneath barely visible. Visible at the V-neck of the jacket is the white shirt with a dark-colored tie. He is looking down and has his arms crossed over his chest., Lounge coat or sack coat, a coat which is also a jacket
File:Duster coat used by one of the Younger Brothers.jpg, alt=Photograph of a buff-colored duster, a front-fastened coat with a mantel over the shoulders that covers most of the arms., Duster coat or simply "duster" worn when riding horseback

Women's

File:Caraco jacket in printed cotton, 1770-1790, skirt in quilted silk satin, 1750-1790.jpg, alt=A headless mannequin is wearing a green quilted skirt and over it wearing a pink caraco with with a purple fern motif. The caraco is a fitted coat that passes the hip of the wearer and buttons up the front; this version has full, fitted sleeves, a square neckline, and there is a large gap at the front skirt of the caraco., Caraco, an eighteenth and nineteenth century fitted coat initially associated with the working class; it is similar to a Bedgown
File:Antoine Hérisset-Les Palatines. Habit ordinaire. Les Casaquins -Rijksmuseum.jpg, alt=A fashion plate of three individuals, two white women modeling the casaquin: one green casaquin over a maroon dress with a wide crinoline and the second a maroon and green striped one over a matching dress. The casaquin is a coat that falls somewhere between the hips and knees and is wide enough around the skirt of the coat to lay over a wide-hooped skirt. The sleeves of these particular examples are wide and three-fourths length. It's fitted around the bodice. There is a white man in the middle with a tricorn hat, an ivory jacket that reaches his knees with a flared skirt. It has loose sleeves with wide cuffs, and the coat is worn over white stockings and black boots. He has a walking stick in his hand., Casaquin, an eighteenth century coat that fastened down the middle and reached the hip
File:Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français 1787, No. lll, Pl. 338 Rodingotte de taffetas violet, RP-P-2009-1900.jpg, alt=A drawing of a veiled woman in a big purple hat and a purple, long-sleeved redingote: a coat that is fitted at the bodice and hits above the hips at the front but cut so that it is left long in the back so that it reaches the floor. Under the coat is a white, floor-length gown. She is carrying a riding crop., Redingote, an eighteenth century fitted riding coat with a long skirt down the back worn as a part of a riding habit
File:Woman's Spencer Jacket and Petticoat LACMA M.2007.211.15a-b (1 of 9).jpg, alt=Full-body mannequin wearing a white, floor-length empire waist dress with three rows of ruffles around the bottom and a copper-colored spencer jacket: a long-sleeved, form fitted jacket that reaches the waist and has puffs at the shoulders., Spencer, a waist-length, frequently double-breasted, coat from the early nineteenth century sometimes made of the same cloth as the gown beneath it
File:Pelisse MET 29.1158 front CP4.jpg, alt=A headless mannequin wearing a light beige floor-length coat that buttons up the middle with three lines of decorative, zigzagging cording along the fitted bodice, long sleeves, and scalloped collar, Pelisse, an early nineteenth century high-waisted and fitted long coat
File:Douglas Campbell, Gown, c. 1940, NGA 14895.jpg, alt=A color fashion plate of a green gown with a train and lace around the sleeve hems and a basque bodice. The bodice is made from a matching cloth and buttons up the front. It has short, square tails in the back., Basque bodice, a Victorian-era coat that was sometimes made with tails
File:Six Women Outdoors, No. 676, from La Elegancia MET DP819134.jpg, alt=A black-and-white fashion plate of six women each wearing long gowns (three white, one dark, two hidden behind other women) and paletots: coats that are fitted to the arms and bodice but flair out to lay over the gowns rounded by crinolines, each coat is shown at a different length and with different shapes around the hem, such as one whose hem is large zigzags, another comes to a point, another is asymmetrical so that it comes longer in the back, and another is the same length all the way around., Paletot, a nineteenth century mid- to full-length coat similar in design to the casaquin in which it is fastens in the front and is fitted to the waist before widening to drape over the skirt
File:African American Woman (MSA) (5788378587).jpg, alt=Black-and-white photograph of a young black woman wearing a hat with feathers and a suit: a coat with with long, leg-of-mutton sleeves and wide-black lapels with a skirt the same cloth as the coat. The coat's skirt passes just over her hips. The coat is open to show a white blouse beneath. The woman is holding a cane behind her back., Suit coats, a development in the late-nineteenth century in which coats or jackets paired with a skirt of the same cloth were worn for purposes other than as riding habits; developed into women's modern suit sets

Modern

The terms ''coat'' and ''jacket'' are both used around the world. The modern terms " jacket" and "coat" are often used interchangeably as terms, although the term "coat" tends to be used to refer to longer garments.

Modern coats include the:

* British Warm
* Car coat
* Chesterfield coat
* Covert coat
* Duffel coat
* Parka
* Pea coat
* Raincoat or Mackintosh
* Trench coat

See also

* Jacket
* Overcoat
* Robe
* Tubada
* White coat

Bibliography

*Antongiavanni, Nicholas: ''The Suit'', HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2006.
*Byrd, Penelope: ''The Male Image: men's fashion in England 1300-1970''. B. T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1979.
*Croonborg, Frederick: ''The Blue Book of Men's Tailoring''. Croonborg Sartorial Co., New York and Chicago, 1907
* Cunnington, C. Willett; Cunnington, Phillis (1959): ''Handbook of English Costume in the 19th Century'', Plays Inc, Boston, 1970 reprint
*Devere, Louis: ''The Handbook of Practical Cutting on the Centre Point System (London, 1866)''; revised and edited by R. L. Shep. R. L. Shep, Mendocino, California, 1986.
*Doyle, Robert: ''The Art of the Tailor'', Sartorial Press Publications, Stratford, Ontario, 2005.
*Mansfield, Alan; Cunnington, Phillis: ''Handbook of English Costume in the 20th Century 1900-1950'', Plays Inc, Boston, 1973
*Snodgrass, Mary Ellen: ''World Clothing and Fashion: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Social Influence, Volume 1'', Sharpe Reference, Armonk, NY, 2014. ISBN 978-0-7656-8300-7
*Stephenson, Angus (editor): ''The Shorter Oxford Dictionary''. Oxford University Press, New York, 2007
*Unknown author: ''The Standard Work on Cutting Men’s Garments''. 4th ed. Originally pub. 1886 by Jno J. Mitchell, New York.
*Vincent, W. D. F.: ''The Cutter’s Practical Guide. Vol II "All kinds of body coats"''. The John Williamson Company, London, circa 1893.
*Waugh, Norah: ''The Cut of Men's Clothes 1600-1900'', Routledge, London, 1964.
*Whife, A. A (ed): ''The Modern Tailor Outfitter and Clothier''; 4th revised ed. 3 vols. The Caxton Publishing Company Ltd, London, 1951

References

General: Picken, Mary Brooks: ''The Fashion Dictionary'', Funk and Wagnalls, 1957. (1973 edition )

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History of clothing (Western fashion)
Medieval European costume