The Frock Overcoat

[storeynicholas]

Whatever the provenance or the errors incorporated in it, though, I do (as one less than happily unmarried) rather like the picture.

The cartoon does capture: buffoonery, hauteur and astonishment very well - and since we are in the realm of a truth universally acknowledged that a single man of good fortune must be in want of a wife, one day, no doubt, a certain time will arrive...
Mr Bennett.

[storeynicholas]

Is there, though, anything which shows a named person in a black tie and full evening coat?

Voilà Prince Albert:

The immediately preceding diversion started as a result of the production of above picture as a suggested example of Prince Albert in full evening dress, which I disputed. Here are some examples of pictures of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in evening dress.

This is the Queen in 1838, at the opera:



This is the two of them dancing (here he is in regimental full dress and she in a ball gown) in 1840:

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Here they are in a family Christmas portrait with their children in 1848 - both in full evening dress (he with white tie) and decorations.



I would suggest that ,in the first picture in this post, they are probably going for a morning constitutional in the garden.
NJS[/img]

[RWS]

Whatever the provenance or the errors incorporated in it, though, I do (as one less than happily unmarried) rather like the picture.

The cartoon does capture: buffoonery, hauteur and astonishment very well - and since we are in the realm of a truth universally acknowledged that a single man of good fortune must be in want of a wife, one day, no doubt, a certain time will arrive...
Mr Bennett.

Ah! The want of a good fortune, there's the rub! (But I am amused . . . .)

[storeynicholas]

Whatever the provenance or the errors incorporated in it, though, I do (as one less than happily unmarried) rather like the picture.

The cartoon does capture: buffoonery, hauteur and astonishment very well - and since we are in the realm of a truth universally acknowledged that a single man of good fortune must be in want of a wife, one day, no doubt, a certain time will arrive...
Mr Bennett.

Ah! The want of a good fortune, there's the rub! (But I am amused . . . .)

RWS - Well, Mr Bennett has only the happiness of those around him at heart and there are enchanting young ladies out there in the world for whom, they know, stout hearts and sharp swords (such as yours), still bring their glittering prizes. At this time of night, I might be forgiven (as much as I trust that you will forgive me), for reliance upon the eloquence of one who did (albeit a long time ago), secure some of those glittering prizes, by (and it is engraved upon his tombstone), his sovereignty of nature (F E Smith, of course).
NJS

[Sator]

The great Edward Minister, in his monumental 1853 text calls frock overcoats Taglioni greatcoats. Filippo Taglioni was a celebrated ballet master and the creator of the ballet La Sylphide. Minister divides all overcoats into two types: Chesterfield types and Taglioni types. The two differ principly in their construction. The Taglioni greatcoat is a body coat cut like a frock coat with a waist seam, whereas the Chesterfield lacks the waist seam.

The Cunningtons define the Taglioni great coat differently as having strikingly wide collars spread out over the shoulder. The lapels, collar and cuffs were lined with quadrilled satin, velvet or 'a new silk material resembling fur'. The waist seam sometimes extended only through the foreparts. It was fashionable between 1835-45. Notice how in this illustration, it is being worn over a dress coat with striped day wear trousers:



This makes it clear that in addition to the surtout, there were other variations on overcoats based on a frock coat pattern.