The Chesterfield is a

formal Formal, formality, informal or informality imply the complying with, or not complying with, some set of requirements ( forms, in Ancient Greek). They may refer to: Dress code and events * Formal wear, attire for formal events * Semi-formal atti ...

, dark, knee-length

overcoat An overcoat is a type of long coat intended to be worn as the outermost garment, which usually extends below the knee. Overcoats are most often used in winter when warmth is more important. They are sometimes confused with or referred to as #T ...

with a

velvet Velvet is a type of woven fabric with a dense, even pile (textile), pile that gives it a distinctive soft feel. Historically, velvet was typically made from silk. Modern velvet can be made from silk, linen, cotton, wool, synthetic fibers, silk ...

collar introduced around the 1840s in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. A less formal derivation is the similar, but with a lighter fabric, slightly shorter, top coat called a covert coat.

History

The Chesterfield coat, with its heavy waist suppression using a waist seam, gradually replaced the over-frock coat during the second half of the 19th century as a choice for a formal overcoat, and survived as a coat of choice over the progression from

frock coat A frock coat is a formal wear, formal men's coat (clothing), coat characterised by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian era, Edwardian periods (1830s–1910s). ...

everyday wear to the introduction of the

lounge suit A suit, also called a lounge suit, business suit, dress suit, or formal suit, is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles generally worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit ...

, but remained principally associated with formal

morning dress Morning dress, also known as formal day dress, is the Formal attire, formal Western dress code for day wear (disambiguation), day attire, consisting chiefly of a morning coat, waistcoat, and formal trousers for men, and an appropriate gown for ...

and

white tie White tie, also called full evening dress or a dress suit, is the most formal evening Western dress code. For men, it consists of a black tail coat (alternatively referred to as a dress coat, usually by tailors) worn over a white dress shir ...

. Its namesake was George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield, then a leader of British fashion.

Characteristics

The dark Chesterfield, which comes with a defining velvet collar has no horizontal seam or sidebodies, but can still be somewhat shaped using the side seams and darts. It can be single- or

double-breasted A double-breasted garment is a coat, jacket, waistcoat, or dress with wide, overlapping front flaps which has on its front two symmetrical columns of buttons; by contrast, a single-breasted item has a narrow overlap and only one column of b ...

, and has been popular in a wide variety of fabrics, typically heavier weight tweeds, or charcoal and navy, and even the

camel hair Camel hair specifically refers to the fur from the body of a camel, but more generally refers to the fibre (and cloth) that may be made from either pure camel hair or a blend of camel hair and another fibre. Camel hair has two components: ''guard ...

classic, although such fabrics may be more associated with a more casual

polo coat A polo coat, also known as a camel coat, is a men's overcoat associated with polo players in England. Camelhair was the fabric at first, but later camelhair and wool blends became standard due to its higher durability. The terms polo coat and cam ...

. These variations make it extremely versatile, so it can be worn with a city suit or even semiformal dress, as well as casual sports jackets. It was a staple of smartly dressed men's wardrobes from the 1920s to 1960s, and has become a classic style for both men and even women.

Popular culture

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' features Chesterfield coats being worn by

the Doctor The Doctor, sometimes known as Doctor Who, is the protagonist of the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. An extraterrestrial Time Lord, the Doctor travels the universe in a time travelling spaceship called th ...

during their eighth, eleventh, twelfth, and

thirteenth In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is most commonly major or minor . A thirteenth chord is th ...

incarnations.

References

External links

* Coats (clothing) Formal wear History of clothing (Western fashion) {{clothing-stub