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Frock coats

post #1 of 20
9/1/09 at 11:55pm
Thread Starter 
Would there be anything strange about wearing a frock coat as a standard overcoat? I rather like the design.
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post #2 of 20
9/2/09 at 1:55am
The frock coat has been largely out of use for the last century or so, but it's similar enough to a modern overcoat that you probably wouldn't seem too strange wearing one.

While you might attract a few stares, I doubt the average person on the street would know exactly why they are staring.
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post #3 of 20
9/2/09 at 6:43pm
Thread Starter 
Ah... might give it a go then! Only usually put it on with the black/white tie which seems a waste.
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post #4 of 20
6/29/12 at 7:35am
I have just seen one of the most well dressed elderly gentlmens today near Piccadilly in London. He cam up from the Underground Station wearing a dark tan Frock Coat with black silk facing and matching bowler hat (never seen one in other colours then black), with a large red carnation on the lapel buttonhole, some sort of dark brown striped trousers and brown captoes oxfords shoes, all completed with a nice wood handled unbrella. The coat had the most stricking cut and was fitting him prefectly all buttoned up, and must have been bespoke.

Nobody gave him a second look (aside of me that was admiring the outfit)
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post #5 of 20
6/29/12 at 9:25am

I  have seen that same gentleman a couple of weeks ago coming out of Angel tube station. He wears his clothes with so much style!
 

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post #6 of 20
6/29/12 at 12:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by marcodalondra View Post

I have just seen one of the most well dressed elderly gentlmens today near Piccadilly in London. He cam up from the Underground Station wearing a dark tan Frock Coat with black silk facing and matching bowler hat (never seen one in other colours then black), with a large red carnation on the lapel buttonhole, some sort of dark brown striped trousers and brown captoes oxfords shoes, all completed with a nice wood handled unbrella. The coat had the most stricking cut and was fitting him prefectly all buttoned up, and must have been bespoke.
Nobody gave him a second look (aside of me that was admiring the outfit)

You sure it wasn't a camel Cromby or a rain coat? The only frock coats I've seen are on Goths and Teds.

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post #7 of 20
6/29/12 at 2:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Mulberry View Post

You sure it wasn't a camel Cromby or a rain coat? The only frock coats I've seen are on Goths and Teds.

110% Frock Coat! I first saw him from the back and recognised the same details of the morning coat (seams, button, vents/pleats), then noticed he was wearing a matching bowler hat, and brown striped pants, so I had to overtake him and stopped for a front look, peaked, black silk facing lapels, 4x2 or 6x2 buttoned up (not sure about this)
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post #8 of 20
10/29/12 at 9:28am
Alexander McQueen this season version (also featured in the Evening Standard's Friday magazine)

http://www.mrporter.com/product/314455?cm_mmc=ProductSearch-_-UK-_-Coats_and_Jackets-_-Double-Breasted&gclid=CLvc1t7RprMCFanItAodq0kAqA
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post #9 of 20
10/29/12 at 9:31am
Could someone explain a Frock coat? Google images shows many different photos.
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post #10 of 20
10/29/12 at 3:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Superfluous View Post

Could someone explain a Frock coat? Google images shows many different photos.

Most of the Wikipedia article on frock coats is written by Sator, who occasionally posts here and possibly knows more about frock coats than anyone else on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frock_coat
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post #11 of 20
10/29/12 at 3:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Superfluous View Post

Could someone explain a Frock coat? Google images shows many different photos.

Yeh, it shows anything from really Dickensian. Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, etc. to something like Adam Ant would have worn, through to modern overcoats.
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post #12 of 20
10/29/12 at 3:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivar View Post

Most of the Wikipedia article on frock coats is written by Sator, who occasionally posts here and possibly knows more about frock coats than anyone else on earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frock_coat

I see in the modern use section, it's primarily about military, Orthodox Jews and Teddy Boys. The rest appears to be 19th century.
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post #13 of 20
10/29/12 at 3:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeDT View Post

I see in the modern use section, it's primarily about military, Orthodox Jews and Teddy Boys. The rest appears to be 19th century.

I actually wore an old Edwardian frock coat when I was best man at my brother's wedding, but yes, it's definitely costume nowadays.

That McQueen frock coat above is a pretty good facsimile. Only error is the presence of the breast pocket (breast pockets were extremely rare in the heyday of the frock coat) and the red color (black was pretty much the only accepted color for city wear from circa the 1850s onward).
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post #14 of 20
10/30/12 at 6:14pm
Frock coats are quite popular among cowboy action shooters and other old West re-enactors in the United States (and probably elsewhere--there is quite a following for that sort of thing in Germany, for example). Quite a few "Old West Sutlers" offer inexpensive frock coats for sale.
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post #15 of 20
10/30/12 at 6:27pm
Those undersized Covert/Crombie coats by Paul Smith and others wear very much like frock coats.
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