The London Lounge

Hello all. I am a new meber and just like to say thankk you for a great forum.

I hope some may be able to help me.

I am seeking a overcoat for hunting and fishing here in Norway. The overcoat I am looking at is the Ulster coat. The extra fabric on the shoulders and upper arms will keep me warm and more dry in the wind, rain and snow.
I have also read about a Ulster named the traveling Ulster. Are there some members who got some information about the Ulster? Photos? Was it intended to be used as a hunting coat?

The next question is about spats.
What was the original use for them? Are they stil made today? Can they be used, with a suit today? Like David Suchet does playing Hercule Poirot?

Best regards

Vegard_dino

Sorry that no one got to you with an answer. The Ulster coat at its origins, looked something like this.



Prince Charles is often seen wearing a version in covert cloth.



When South American polo players added a belt to the Ulster it became the Polo coat.



Spats are now used in costumes and theaters.

The coat used for hunting here in Germany was/is called Hubertusmantel(use Google or others for research).
It's more like a cloak with sleeves and is usually made of heavy woolen Loden, which can resist wind and rain. The sleeves have extra length in the rear to provide more range of movement. There are several versions around, one I found looks like this:



If you like this overcoat, check out this link:
http://www.volkskultur-shop.de/index.ph ... &asg_id=51


SG

As far as I know, the travelling Ulster is mid-calf long, can be buttoned all the way to the chin and carries a large hood made of the same cloth as the coat, with a string around the edge that pulls it together. Very useful if you plan to travel in an open carriage...

Spats seemed to be reserved for formal day dress nowadays, e.g., HRH Prince Charles. Some lady fashions seem to have adopted the use of spats too.

I believe they are used for parade wear by some Indian and Pakistani military units and, unless button boots or equivalent are worn, do smarten up the look of brass bands.

vegard_dino wrote: ...<snipped>...The next question is about spats.
What was the original use for them? Are they stil made today? Can they be used, with a suit today? Like David Suchet does playing Hercule Poirot?

Best regards

Vegard_dino

Long spats or gaiters are still useful in field sports, worn with shooting breeches or knickerbockers and stockings. These would be made of canvas. Bishops wore black ones with their breeches (when people still wore breeches - in fact into the 20th - Century Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Gordon Lang was wearing them as he strode out of 10 Downing Street at the height of the abdication crisis in 1936 and Winston Churchill wore evening breeches at his PM farewell dinner for HM the Queen in 1955). Greaves are an alternative for field sports - in place of Newmarket boots. Greaves are made of leather and derive from medieval leg armour.

storeynicholas wrote:. . . . Greaves are made of leather and derive from medieval leg armour.

Even older: bronze shin-guards were already old when they formed a part of classical Greek armor, two and a half millennia ago.

Or even armour and your point is?
Nicholas.

Hmm? Merely a bored observation: the greave has been with us since long before the Middle Ages.

As I understand ithe purpose of spats is to protect the top of the shoe from rain penetration through the eyelets, although I suspect that aesthetic considerations were also important when they enjoyed their greatest vogue. As far as I am aware, the death-knell was sounded for them in this country when royalty stopped wearing them (some time in the 1930s) and, apart from the odd eccentric, I think they have entirely dropped out of use. I have very occasionally stepped out in a pair.

Spatterdash -
http://www.spatterdash.com/spatterdash/ ... 000295C0E8 is the only modern manufacturer that I am aware of. I find all except the "cotton club" spats a bit de trop to be honest.