Wednesday, November 13, 2013

History's Runway: The Pollock Overcoat, 1850



Overcoat of Russian Wold and Woven Wool
Given by Mrs. A. Pollock
London, 1850
The Victoria & Albert Museum





Fully-lined and trimmed with the skins of thirty-two Russian wolves, this gentelman’s overcoat is fastened with five rows of frogging which are constructed from a heavy black braid. The highest frog fastener, worn high on the chest, allows the collar to be turned up to frame the face and neck.

When this coat was made, around 1850, both men and women were wearing furs. At the time, fur farming was not in practice and the pelts for coats and fashions like this were made from animals which were hunted and trapped in the wild.

Still yucky, if you ask me. But, it’s, nonetheless, an attractive coat and wholly charming in the manner of the mid-Nineteenth Century. 





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