Topcoat

“ The overcoat is a dark blue ulster-coat, reaching about midway from the knee to the foot, double-breasted, buttoning to the neck with seven large flat black buttons on each side, with a wide rolling collar, with a pocket having a vertical opening on each side above the waist, and fitted with waist straps at the back. Shoulder marks of the same design as those for the white service coat are worn with the overcoat and the rank of the wearer is indicated by stripes of black mohair braid on the lower part of the sleeve. ”

“ The coat of which an illustration is given is excellent for the purpose, but it is more elaborate. It has, however, the leather waistcoat or undercoat attached to it, and is extremely comfortable. It can be made in any cloth or material. It has heavy fur which, while it looks smart, is a sure means of catching and retaining dust, and the great object to be aimed at in motor travelling is to find something which will not collect dust, for if coats, rugs, &c. get dusty it is almost impossible to get rid of it. ”

“ The upper curve is especially intended for overcoats, because the overcoat armhole is cut deeper than the under coat armhole. The upward curve forms a gusset, or a wedge, which allows the arm to be raised on the same principle that the lap of the shoulder and sleeve on top allows the arm to be moved downward. When the arm is down, and in its natural position, the gusset on top is taken up and the one below the arm is hidden, and will not show at all. But if the arm is to be moved upward, it is there for supply, and the body of the coat is not required to go along. ”

“ He says that it is always put on over all the others. In the case of the ordinary civilian we have the waistcoat, which was originally an outer garment. Then comes the frock-coat or surtout, which at the beginning of the nineteenth century was [149] an overcoat, and over this again in cold weather the modern ulster or top-coat is put.
No consideration of servants’ dress would be complete without an allusion to the cap and apron of the house- or parlour-maid. To begin with, we see in these a survival of the special dresses which were once adopted by particular trades. ”

“ To return to Eton again, we might mention one or two fashions in the ordinary dress which are curious. It is ordained that the lowest button of the waistcoat should be left unbuttoned and the bottom of the trousers should be turned up, while it is part of the performance to thrust the hands deeply into the trouser pockets. If a boy elects to wear an overcoat, and he does not occupy a certain definite position or status in the school, public opinion forces him to keep [171] the collar of his top coat turned up. ”

“ It is best to have shoes made to order. Nothing about a man’s dress is so quickly noticed as ill-fitting shoes.
The Body.—The body-coat: This is a black sack body-coat, either double or single breasted. Both styles are correct. The materials used are thibets, cheviots, and black serges. At present they are made [18] with four buttons, very wide collars, and very long in the body.
The waistcoat: This always matches the body-coat in material and pattern. Likewise, it may be double or single breasted. It is not necessary, in this respect, for it to match the body-coat. ”

“ There is also the cutaway suit for morning wear. This is worn mostly by elderly and heavily built men. It consists of a cutaway body-coat four buttons, waistcoat single-breasted, and trousers. These three pieces are always of the same material and pattern. The same things are worn with this as with the sack body-coat.
Heavy cloths for winter and light weights for summer wear.
The sack body-coat becomes all men, tall or short, thin or stout, old or young.
Fancy serge waistcoats, also fine linen waistcoats, and sashes in summer, may be worn with the sack body-coat. ”

“ I note with pleasure that your Highness knows
The delicate art of building up a stock.
Here's a check pattern makes an elegant knot.
How does this waistcoat strike your Lordship's fancy,
Down which meander wreaths of blossoms?
The Duke.
Hideous!
The Tailor.
Will these, I wonder, leave your Highness cold?
Here's doeskin. Here a genuine Scottish tweed.
Bottle-green riding-coat with narrow cuffs;
Extremely gentlemanly. Here's a waistcoat:
Six-buttoned. Three left open. Very tasty.
Now, what about this blue frock-coat? We've rubbed
The newness off artistically. ”

“ In wearing the leather waistcoat it need not show. The coat can be buttoned over it.
There is a shooting coat, I believe the invention of the late Mr. Cholmondely Pennell, which has a waistcoat of thick material to wear over, instead of under, a thin coat. This keeps the body warm whilst the arms are light and free.
Boots or shoes with corrugated rubber soles or nailed boots should be worn if the ground is heavy, wet, or slippery.
As nailed or rubber soled boots cannot be worn when in formal dress it is best to make sure of your foothold when wearing ordinary boots or shoes. ”

“ The riding-coat is the connecting link between the DRESS and the rest of the great family of coats, as one button, and one only of this garment, may be allowed to be applied to his apparent use.
It is so cut, that the waistcoat pockets may be easy of access. Any gentleman who has attended races or other sporting meetings must have found the convenience of this arrangement ”

“ There's something sensible about a real, unadulterated top-coat; and there's a style in the way in which they've let down the skirts, and put on the velvet collar and cuffs regardless of expense, that really quite goes to one's heart. Now I daresay the man that built that," he said, more particularly addressing the owner of the coat, "condescends to live in a village, and waste his sweetness on the desert air, while a noble field might be found for his talent in a University town. That coat will make quite a sensation in Oxford. Won't it, Charley?" ”

“ Perplexed for the moment by the necessity of secreting it so that it should not attract the attention of their guests on his return to the automobile, its soft texture speedily solved the problem, and rapidly unbuttoning his waistcoat, he wound the delicate fabric snugly around him like a belt, and by dint of some effort succeeded in rebuttoning the waistcoat over it, reflecting the while that his dust-coat would effectually conceal any unnatural rotundity which might otherwise be evident on the way home. ”

“ The performers rallying Cooke one morning, in the green room, on the awkward cut of a new coat, he apologized, by saying, "It was his tailor's fault."—"Yes, poor man," said Munden, "and his misfortune too!"
MCDXLV.—TAKE WARNING!
A barrister who had retired from practice, said: "If any man was to claim the coat upon my back, and threaten my refusal with a lawsuit, he should certainly have it; lest, in defending my coat, I should, too late, find that I was deprived of my waistcoat also." ”

“ Everywhere we see the skirted coat, the big flapped waistcoat; even beggar boys, little pot-high urchins, are wearing some old laced waistcoat tied with string about their middles—a pair of heel-trodden, buckleless shoes on their feet, more likely bare-footed. Here is a man snatched from the tripe-shop in Hanging Sword Alley by the King’s men—a pickpocket, a highwayman, a cut-throat in hiding. ”

“ Is a three-seamed overcoat, and must be reproduced and made as fine work requires it, and the person who wears it must be well built, and with a rather small waist and seat. All clothing worn under the overcoat should be neat and well fitting. Erect persons should have the height of back at 13. The sleeve shown in Dia. X corresponds to Dia. Xa. The collar must be sewed on easy, on and along the sides. The whole front edge may be made 1⁄2 inch smaller than Dia. X.
Dia. ”

“ The loveliest coat in the world—"fumée de Londres," the salesman had called it, and in fact, it was the colour of the purple-grey smoke that ascends in solid spirals from factory chimneys. There were stripes too of silvery grey chenil which made a play-ground for lights and shadows. In shape it was like an old print of a coachman driving a four-in-hand, long with a flapping cape, and the lining was the colour of the sky when the sun has set. ”

“ There are no stays to the pockets, no reinforcing to the seat, no leather on the inside of the bottoms of the trowsers, and the linings of the coat and vest, or waistcoat, as these semi-barbarians call it, are of the cheapest and flimsiest material that a devilish ingenuity can weave. ”

“ Of coats, the frock is better than the evening or dress-coat. It fulfils the purpose of a garment more completely, and when buttoned up is capable of protecting the chest. The triangular opening in front of the coat and waistcoat is, however, an absurdity. It leaves unprotected from cold and wet the very part which most requires protection. Pictorially, the regularly-defined patch of white seen through it is always offensive ”

“ Moreover, it is held that the fur being interposed between the ordinary coat and the great-coat, permits of a certain amount of healthy ventilation.
In the summer, when the weather is very hot, provided that a thick suit of clothes be worn, a great-coat is sometimes unnecessary, except as a protection from dust. A light dustcoat, made of a dust-coloured material and fitted with a high collar, will then be found useful, as after a dusty drive it may be taken off, and the ordinary clothes are left unsoiled. ”

“ No coatee nor jacket can be warm enough for the British service, exposed as the men are to all varieties of climate; and infinitely more to cold and wet than to sunshine. In India, and in some of the colonies, a lighter kind of clothing may be indeed necessary; but for the common use of the army, a coat is wanted that shall be a protection against wet and cold, and yet not inconvenient to the wearer—making him comfortable, in fact, while it allows him free use of all his limbs and muscles. ”

“ For this the neck-tie should he studied, and the cut of the coat-chest and sleeve, when coats must be worn: and every man must have some sort of overcoat, for chilly and damp hours of duty. There is great danger in the wearing of water-proof fabrics, unless they are so loose as to admit of a free circulation of air between them and the body. ”

“ Nevertheless we have never been able to conquer our instinctive feeling that a fur-lined overcoat indicates the possession of a great deal of money and a doggish tendency to spend it on wine, women, and—well, the singing is not so important in the picture. Whenever we see a man sporting a fur-lined overcoat our first thought is to wonder whether or not his wife has found out about him. Our second is to wish we had a coat like it. ”

“ Some will find it becoming to their figure to have coats even longer and some shorter, and we may hope that the days of the tight-fitting postilion coats, which make the rider look all hips, have passed forever. The collar may be of velvet of the same shade as the habit, of the material itself, or of gray, black, or tan leather, according to the color of the habit, but not of silk or satin. Personally, I do not care for leather collars and think they are too showy to be really smart. A left side breast pocket and two side pockets are permissible. ”

“ The coats are very loose also, and expose the bare skin of the stomach when the wearer reaches his hands above his head.
The coats of the women differ from those of the men only in having a short tail in front, and a much longer one behind. They also have a loose bag on each shoulder, and the hood is much longer than the men wear. The women's outside coats are always made of the short hair, the same as are their ar-tee'-gee. Their trousers reach further below the knee, fit closer to the leg, and are worn with the hairy side out. Women never wear but the one pair in any weather. ”

“ The coat worn by the men and boys, and by the girls until they arrive at womanhood, has the form of a loose shirt, seldom reaching more than 2 or 3 inches below the hips, and often barely covering the hips. The neck hole is large enough to admit the head into the hood, which may be thrown back or worn over the head in place of a cap. ”

“ Many of the domestic kind in central and northern Europe and Canada are used for drivers’ and peasants’ coat linings, &c. In Great Britain many coats of the home-reared sheep, having wools two and a half to five inches long, are dyed various colours and used as floor rugs. Skins with very short wool are dyed black and used for military saddle-cloths. The bulk, however, is used in the wool trade. The Hungarian peasants are very fond of their natural brown sheep coats, the leather side of which is not lined, but embellished by a very close fancy embroidery, worked upon the leather itself ”

“ All the color of the coat seemed to gather to a soft intensity, and glow.
Eleanor More caught her breath with a little sound. “I had forgotten!” she said. “I had forgotten....!” Her face was filled with light—a look of happiness pervaded it.
Richard More glanced at her. “Ask him how much it is,” he said in a low voice to the interpreter.
The interpreter spoke the words and listened a moment and translated the answer swiftly: “Money will not buy the coat—not all the gold in all the world,” he chanted back. ”

“ In a very thorny country, a leather coat is almost essential. A blouse, cut short so as to clear the saddle, is neat, cool, and easy, whether as a riding or walking costume. Generally speaking, the traveller will chiefly spend his life in his shirt-sleeves, and will only use his coat when he wants extra warmth.
To carry a Coat.--There are two ways. The first is to fold it small and strap it to the belt. If the coat be a light one it can be carried very neatly and comfortably in this way, lying in the small of the back. ”