The London Lounge

A very intriguing garment never seen before (by me, anyhow). Does anybody have any info on who designed and cut the cape? Any pattern available, any background information? Thank you The two Grand Allied overcoats.

This could be a good start for your inquiry. It says manufactured in 1943 by Naval Clothing Company of Brooklyn, NY. It was auctioned in eBay as being FDR model. Good luck!

Sorry I reply privately. I am still fighting the system. Thank you for a well done job. I have a similar cape, the only missing point is the cordon. I will try to fix the problem. Thanks again.

Do not worry, Castiglione, we all had our learning curve with the system. I'm still learning its rules and features myself.
I got your private message and I'm glad you are on your way. That cape is something else.
Happy New Year!

Any information on the cloth?

hectorm wrote:Do not worry, Castiglione, we all had our learning curve with the system. I'm still learning its rules and features myself.
I got your private message and I'm glad you are on your way. That cape is something else.
Happy New Year!

Same to you Hector. A brief comment on the cape. How wrong was I all these years, how unfair to FDR! Coming as he did from Dutch and Huguenot ancestry I took for granted that he would have chosen as an attire the nec plus ultra of refinement. Caesar knew the time of his triumph had come and wanted to appear before the world as the new Augustus he was. So, I decided, he had opted for a royal cape (see HM the Queen of England as depicted in official portraits) possibly his own design, cut by the very best of the New York taylors. Well, all he did was to grab a RTW standard senior Navy uniform stuff and that was it. And continues to be in all the pictures that bear testimony of the encounter. The most powerful man on earth, to his right Sir Winston Churchill in a SR bespoke military coat, to his left Stalin-no need to elaborate. And he, the very basis of Victory, wearing a quartermaster´s cape of the Navy he loved since his days of youth. (If I am not mistaken his first federal assignment was Secretary of the Navy). I should have know better. Not so many years before Yalta every time General Eisenhower left his office in Washington to go to Capitol Hill he did so on a bus ride. Upon return he handed the ticket to the duty quatermaster´s officer (or NCO) to receive his five cents back.
PS.- How come you can post more than three pics?

Good stories Castiglione. Even if they were not true, they would deserve to be.
When I visited FDR Memorial in Washington DC, one of the guides told me that Roosevelt liked to spread his cape over his wheelchair to conceal it from the public view. I didn't pay much attention to the garment then but being the Secretary of the Navy, his choice makes lots of sense.
Regarding your question: I did not post more than 3 pictures. Actually It's just a collage of smaller photographs in only one image.

FDR's cape was made by Brooks Brothers.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

Cufflink79 wrote:FDR's cape was made by Brooks Brothers.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

Thank you. Still no SR or military tailor who knew Stalin gave no second fittings. BTW, my story of General Eisenhower and his 5 cents bus ride is a matter of public record. At the time the US had an Army of 50.000 men and only one base abroad, Guantanamo. In 1945 the US Army consisted of 10.000.000 million guys scattered all over the world.

Cufflink79 wrote:FDR's cape was made by Brooks Brothers.

Brooks Brothers? What a spoiler! I liked the romantic story of a heroic President grabbing the naval standard issue cape much better.

U.S. Navy
Description and Wear of Uniform Components

Boat Cloak (Male Officers/CPOs)

Article 3501.4

Description.

Made of dark blue woolen fabric, three-quarters of a circle, with a circular bent collar, and extending 2 inches below the kneecap. May be water repellent. Cloak is closed at the neck with hooks and eyes and on the chest by one set of silk or mohair fasteners.

Correct Wear.

Wear with all fasteners closed.

Captain Sir Christopher Cole, 1770-1836

A mature portrait facing slightly to left in captain's full dress uniform, 1815-25. He wears a black stock and a grey boat-cloak with a black collar over his right shoulder, and draws it across his body with his left hand.

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collection ... 14097.html

Royal Naval uniform: pattern 1836

Boat cloak of navy wool, lined in the front with black twill silk. The cloak is gathered at the shoulders into a high standing collar. The collar is reinforced and stiffened with rows of running stitch on the exterior and has a plush lining. The cloak originally fastened at the base of the collar with an eye and tape. There are two caste-gilt base metal bosses on either side of the collar.

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collection ... 71446.html

Well done!

castiglione wrote: I have a similar cape, the only missing point is the cordon. I will try to fix the problem.

Castiglione,
once you fix the problem with the fastener, where and how do you plan to wear your cloak?

Where does one wear such a cloak? On a night when no ordinary overcoat will do.