Frock coat

Formal black frock coat with silk-faced lapels, light grey waistcoat, striped trousers, button boots, gloves, ascot-knotted cravate, and necktie pin; April 1904.

A frock coat (also: Prince Albert frock or frock jacket) is a man's coat characterised by knee-length skirts all around the base, unlike the tail coat and the morning coat. The frock coat is fitted, long-sleeved, of knee-length, with a collar and lapels (revers), a centre vent, and a waist seam for optimal waist suppression. As formalwear the frock coat always is double-breasted with peaked lapels. As informal wear, the single-breasted frock coat often sported the notched lapel (hence its informality), and was more common in the early nineteenth century than the formal model.

The sartorial construction difference among frock coats, tail coats, and morning coats (which share the waist seam) is in the cut of the skirt. As was usual with all coats in the nineteenth century, shoulder padding (called 'American shoulders') was rare or minimal. The formal frock coat only buttons to the waist, and its back waist is decorated with a pair of buttons. The frock coat that buttoned to the neck, forming a high, stand-up collar, was worn only by clergymen.

Linguistically, frock coat derives from the Middle English froke, from the Old French froc, from the Old High German hroc. Moreover, frock denotes both clerical garb, and a type of woman's dress combining a skirt with a shirt-blouse top. The French and Italian word for a frock coat is redingote; the German is Gehrock (or a Bratenrock).

History

Frock coats emerged around as early as 1816 and were probably originally of military origin worn buttoned to the neck with a standing 'Prussian' military collar. Another theory is that the "frock coat" originated from a garment called the "frock" in the eighteenth century. The frock was originally country clothing that became increasingly fashionable as half dress from around 1730, when the formal dress coat became so elaborate as to make it impractical for everyday wear, and by the 1780s was worn widely as town wear. Towards the end of the eighteenth century the frock started to be made with a cutaway front and tails which became the precursor to the modern tail coat. In fact the modern word for a tail coat in Italian, French and Spanish is 'frac', in German it is 'Frack' and in Portuguese the spelling of the word for a tail coat is "fraque", the same as it was spelt in French in the late eighteenth century to describe a garment with a diagonally cutaway front in the manner of a modern morning coat. Even coats with horizontally cut away skirts like a tail coat were referred to as a frock in the late eighteenth and very early nineteenth century before being renamed the dress coat. This suggest that "the frock" is more the direct ancestor of the modern tail coat, whereas the "frock coat" under discussion here is a different garment altogether with separate military origins in the nineteenth century, although a remote historical connection to the frock still remains at least plausible.

Heads of government wearing frock coats at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

The frock coat was at first worn informally as less fitted form of undress of possibly military origin. Towards the end of the 1820's it started to be cut with a waist seam to make it more fitted with an often marked waist suppression. A marked degree of waist suppression with an exaggerated hour glass figure persisted into the 1840s. As it became better established around the 1850s it started to become accepted as formal day time 'full dress', thus relegating the tail coat (at the time usually referred to as a 'dress coat') to evening formal full dress. At this period the frock coat became the most standard form of coat for morning dress. Through most of the Victorian era it was worn in similar situations that the lounge suit is worn today. Around the 1880s and increasingly through into the Edwardian era, an adaptation of the riding coat (also called a Newmarket coat) was renamed the morning coat - once considered a casual form of dress - started to slowly become acceptable as an alternative to the frock coat for morning dress and as standard day time full dress, gradually relegating the frock coat to only more formal situations such as court dress.

In the middle of the nineteenth century the lounge suit, once only worn in the country or at the seaside, started to become popular and took over in the role as a more casual alternative to the morning coat for town wear, bumping the latter up in the scale of formality. The more the morning coat became accepted as correct day time full dress, the more the lounge suit became acceptable as an informal alternative, and the more the frock coat became relegated to the status of ultra-formal day time wear. At the most formal events during the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, heads of government wore the frock coat, but at more informal meetings they wore morning coats or even a lounge suit. In 1926 George V hastened the demise of the frock coat by shocking the public appearing at the opening of the Chelsea flower show wearing a morning coat. The frock coat barely survived the 1930s only as an ultra-formal form of court dress until being finally officially abolished as official court dress by Edward VIII (later abdicated to become the Duke of Windsor) who replaced it with the morning coat in 1936, thus consigning the frock coat to historic dress.

Use

Formal wear

Frock coats worn with waistcoat and striped trousers are still very occasionally worn as daytime formal wear, especially for weddings as an alternative to morning dress. In the nineteenth century, during the Victorian era, formal wear attained the status of full dress as daytime formal wear. At the same time, the double-breasted frock coat also gradually became accepted, with the more formal peaked lapel as a standard feature.

Colour

The standard colour of a frock coat is solid black, but later, in the Victorian era, charcoal grey became an acceptable but less common alternative. Again they are usually worn with a dark grey pair of striped formal trousers. Only towards the later part of the nineteenth century did the ditto suit emerge transiently with a matching pair of trousers and waistcoat around the time of the birth of the modern lounge suit with its similar shorter matching coat, waistcoat (vest) and trousers. However, in keeping with the rules set for modern morning dress having matching trousers was considered a far more casual alternative and such 'ditto suits' were soon replaced by the increasing popularity of the lounge suit. Formal occasions still demanded the classical black frock coat, often with silk facings in the lapels, with dark grey formal striped trousers. A matching coloured waistcoat was worn only in the most solemn formal ceremonies such as funerals. For funerals black frock coats without silk faced lapels were worn. When after the Edwardian era, the single-breasted cutaway front morning coat took the place of the frock coat, the morning coat was continued to be worn with striped trousers and a grey or buff coloured waistcoat.

Length

The length of the skirt of the frock coat varied during the Victorian era and Edwardian era according to fashion. The most conservative length became established as being to the knees but fashion conscious men would follow the latest trends to wear them either longer or shorter. Similarly, the height of the waist - the point of maximal waist suppression - changed according to fashion. During its heyday, the frock coat was cut following the nineteenth century ideal of flattering the natural elegance of the naked figure, based on the ideals of Neoclassicism that admired the depiction of the idealised nude in Classical Greco-Roman sculpture. The elegance of the form of the frock coat derived from its hourglass shape with a closely cut waist which at times around the 1830's-40's was reinforced further with padding to round out the chest. A cut with an ideal hourglass silhouette was achievable because coats during this era were all made bespoke, individually cut to the exact measurements of the customer. The nineteenth century aesthetics of tailoring contrasted markedly to the modern style of cutting suits which involves a greater degree of drape (fullness), as established by the great early twentieth century Savile Row tailor Frederick Scholte. Caution needs to be exercised by modern tailors trained to create the drape cut style of modern lounge suits to minimise drape - particularly around the waist - when cutting an historically accurate frock coat. Occasionally modern lounge suit coats with an unusually long skirt are referred to by ready-to-wear makers as a 'frock coat' but these lack the waist seam resulting in the fuller drape more typical of a modern overcoat or a lounge suit coat. The silhouette of the historically accurate frock coat has the waist seam precisely to permit the classical and elongating hourglass figure with the strong waist suppression.

Pockets

Oscar Wilde (1856-1900) wearing a frock coat with a chest pocket sporting a pocket square and a pinned cravat in a Ruche knot. Frock coats with any external pockets at all are a rarity.

Another characteristic of frock coats is their lack of any outer pockets. Only late in the Victorian and Edwardian era were they ever made with a chest pocket to sport a pocket square. Oscar Wilde, a famous dandy of his time, is often seen in portraits wearing just such a model, but while this feature is typical of the modern lounge suit, it is rather rare on frock coats but is in keeping with the flamboyant nature of Wilde's dress though it was frowned upon by traditionalists. Side pockets are always absent from a historically accurate frock coat. (On occasion a very small pocket can be found concealed in the waist seam.)

Accessories

Correct accessories to wear with the frock coat include a top hat and a boutonniere in the lapel. A Homburg hat is considered too informal to wear with proper formal morning dress. During the Victorian and Edwardian era button boots or Oxford boots (Balmoral boots in American English) with a single row of punching across the cap toe were worn along with a cane and on cold days an overfrock - a type of overcoat cut exactly the same as the frock coat with the waist seam construction, only a little longer and fuller to permit it to be worn over the top of the frock coat. In this day and age black Oxford shoes (Balmorals in American English) with closed lacing and a plain cap toe - unadorned with punching - would be equally correct. Patent leather pump shoes are not worn with a frock coat, this being reserved for evening formalwear. Trousers are uncuffed and worn with braces (American English, suspenders) to avoid the top of the trousers from showing underneath the waistcoat. The shirt should be white and worn with winged collars (traditionally detachable) and worn with a cravat (or ascot in American English). The cravat is tied in the ascot knot (the entire cravat is called an ascot in American English) characterised by way the ends cross over in front, or alternatively in Ruche knot, tied like a four-in-hand knot of a modern necktie. A decorative tie pin often adorned with a precious stone or pearl is used to keep the cravat tidy. The cravat was usual with a frock coat when worn in more formal occasions through the Victorian and Edwardian eras, although the long necktie came to be worn increasingly after the turn of the century in the same manner as it is today with morning dress. The practice of wearing bow ties as an acceptable alternative fell away after the late Victorian to early Edwardian era and as remains the case with formalwear today became relegated to evening formalwear. As with a formal shirt for white tie, cuffs should be single (rather than double) cuffed and close with cufflinks. The waistcoat is double-breasted with peaked lapels and for weddings a light grey colour. In historical situations where the frock coat was once worn as for a memorial services, for diplomatic dress, and with academic regalia a matching black waist coat was worn. Formal gloves in suede, chamois, or kid leather are also traditional.

Like morning coats, frock coats are only worn for daytime formal events before 5 PM (17:00) and no later than until around 7 PM (19:00). Frock coats are today only worn at weddings where elements of historical costume are more acceptable, and even this practice is unusual as its role as a formal ceremonial coat in daytime formal wear has been supplanted in modern dress code by the morning coat. When worn to a funeral, frock coats should not have silk facings.

Military wear

This section requires expansion.

The cut of a frock coat with a waist seam flatters a man's figure, as opposed to a sack coat, and such frock coats remain part of some twentieth century military uniforms. They can either be single-breasted as in army uniforms, or double-breasted as in navy uniforms.

Western wear

This section requires expansion.

Frock coats are also worn as a formal coat with western wear.

Orthodox Jewish wear

In the Lithuanian yeshiva world, many prominent figures wear a black frock coat also known as a kapotteh (accompanied by either a Homburg or Fedora hat) as formal wear. Such garb is usually reserved for a rosh yeshiva, mashgiach, or prominent lecturer.

Most married male Lubavitcher Hasidim also don frock coats on Shabbat. All Hasidim also wear a gartel ("belt") over their outer coats during prayer services.

Most Hasidim wear long coats called rekelekh during the week, which are often mistaken for frock coats but are really very long suit jackets. On Shabbat, Hasidim wear bekishes, which are usually silk or polyester as opposed to the woolen frock coat. The bekishe and the rekel both lack the waist seam construction of the frock coat. Additionally, bekishes can be distinguished from frock coats by the additional two buttons on front and a lack of a slit in the back.

Part of the slit hem in the back of the frock coat is rounded so as to not require tzitzit.

In Yiddish, a frock is known as a frak, a sirtuk, or a kapotteh.