History's Runway: The Pollock Overcoat, 1850

Overcoat of Russian Wold and Woven Wool
Given by Mrs. A. Pollock
London, 1850
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Fully-lined and trimmed with the skins of thirty-two Russian wolves, this gentelman’s overcoat is fastened with five rows of frogging which are constructed from a heavy black braid. The highest frog fastener, worn high on the chest, allows the collar to be turned up to frame the face and neck.

When this coat was made, around 1850, both men and women were wearing furs. At the time, fur farming was not in practice and the pelts for coats and fashions like this were made from animals which were hunted and trapped in the wild.

Still yucky, if you ask me. But, it’s, nonetheless, an attractive coat and wholly charming in the manner of the mid-Nineteenth Century. 

History's Runway: An Ermine Evening Coat, 1936

Evening Coat
1936
The Victoria & Albert Museum

With a design that is wholly typical of the 1930s Hollywood look, this fashionable evening coat with its combination of gold satin and supple white ermine is the work of designer Madeleine Vionnet. Vionnet was born in 1875 in Aubervilliers, France and apprenticed to a seamstress at an early age. Later, Vionnet joined Kate O’Reilly, a London dressmaker, in about 1897. 

By 1912, Vionnet had returned to Paris and opened her own celebrated, stylish fashion house. The First World War closed Vionnet’s business, but she re-opened in 1918, moving to 50 avenue Matignon. There, she became known for her glamorous Hollywood-inspired designs such as this coat and her work remained popular until her retirement in 1939.

The attractive coat would have looked stunning over a champagne silk gown, as modeled by one of the V&A's scary mannequins.  

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Schiaparelli Evening Coat, 1939

Silk Evening Coat
Elsa Schiaparelli, 1939
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This delicious, crimson long evening coat is made of red grosgrain. Floor-length with a straight front and wide self-faced edges, it has a narrow band collar and wide straight sleeves and is slightly pleated at the head into padded shoulders.

The back of the garment has been designed to fit as far as the waist where it blossoms into two wide cross-cut panels which extend into a dramatic train. A button, covered with matching silk, is bound with white metal is adorned with a small mother of pearl flower in the center. This is stitched at the top of the pleat. Half way down the train is a fleur de lys shaped loop which, when attached to the button, pulls the train up into a bustle. The coat is lined with a slightly darker scarlet silk.

The coat was designed by Elsa Schiaparelli for her 1939 Summer collection and is an example of the historicism which defined the fashion at the end of the 1930s, as designers reinterpreted the shapes of the leg-of-mutton shoulders and bustles that dominated the 1880s.

Schiaparelli always put the cut of a garment first. Her silhouettes were frequently described as having a “strict neatness with angles replacing feminine curves.” With its theatricality and almost cardinal-like overtones, this evening coat demonstrates modern and forceful lines and the streamlined simplicity which dominated late 1930s fashion.

History's Runway: The Pollock Overcoat, 1850

Overcoat of Russian Wold and Woven Wool
Given by Mrs. A. Pollock
London, 1850
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Full lined and trimmed with the skins of thirty-two Russian wolves, this gentelman’s overcoat is fastened with five rows of frogging which are constructed from a heavy black braid. The highest frog fastener, worn high on the chest, allows the collar to be turned up to frame the face and neck.

When this coat was made, around 1850, both men and women were wearing furs. At the time, fur farming was not in practice and the pelts for coats and fashions like this were made from animals which were hunted and trapped in the wild.

Still yucky, if you ask me. But, it’s, nonetheless, an attractive coat and wholly charming in the manner of the mid-Nineteenth Century.