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Anover-frock coat is aformalovercoat designed to be worn over afrock coat if needed in cold weather. Atop-frock coat may also be worn over a frock coat in milder weather. Shaped like the body coats popular in theVictorian andEdwardian periods, the over-frock coat was cut in essentially the same way as the frock coat that was worn under it, although it would be larger overall to accommodate the frock-coat worn underneath.
Like the frock coat, the over-frock would typically be single-breasted, withstep lapels forinformal occasions like business, and double-breasted with pointed lapels for formal occasions – weddings, funerals, balls, etc. The top-frock was usually double breasted.[1] The formal variety was sometimes called aPrince Albert overcoat.
The Prince Albert top frock, from the later half of the 19th century, originally had a three-inch-wide velvet collar, and flap pockets at the hip, until 1893, when it became even more fitted, longer, and double-breasted.[2]
Both the top-frock and over-frock coats werewoollen, like most male garments of the time, and were made in varying weights, ranging from just 14oz for mild-weather topcoats, to 20 or 30oz for really cold weather. Wool was not a prerequisite, but was the most common material, and came in a range of qualities, the finest being that of aMerino sheep. Any material might be used, at a greater cost, includingcashmere (from theKashmir goat),angora (from theAngora rabbit),alpaca, orhuarizo (from a hybrid of alpaca and llama).
Evening over-frock coats, worn overEvening dress could be made fromMohair (from theAngora goat), which produced an additional sheen. Evening over-frocks often have silkrevers, like the dress coat worn underneath.
Both coats could be lined on the inside withfur of animals ranging fromnutria orrabbit tosilver fox orImperial sable, depending on the owner's means and preferences. To order a coat lined insable,beaver,seal, ormink from one's tailor would be prohibitively expensive for most, and to own one would mark one as a person of immense wealth and status.
The collars were very oftenvelvet for warmth.[according to whom?]Silk velvet was most expensive, while velvets made from cotton or other materials were more affordable.
The over-frock was the standard overcoat for much of the Victorian era and until after theFirst World War. Its popularity mirrored thefrock coat, which replaced thetailcoat (justacorps) as day wear in the 1850s.
The frock coat, often attributed to the result of the fashion influence of theRegency dandyGeorge Bryan 'Beau' Brummell, was almost universally black, and was worn withwaistcoat and trousers, which could be of any colour. Black coat, waistcoat, and trousers - "frock suits" - were worn only for funerals (as a 'mourning suit') and the mostformal of occasions. The trousers that went with it[clarification needed] - what would be known asformal trousers - could either be checked or striped, or have no pattern at all.
The frock coat, and with it the over-frock, was increasingly rarely worn ascasual wear towards the end of the 19th century, as the "sack suit", the comparatively loose modern suit was adopted forleisure wear, and themorning coat, originally forequestrian use, replaced it for some formal events. By 1926, when KingGeorge V wore a morning coat to the opening of theChelsea flower show, the frock coat was barely ever worn, and with it the over-frock.
In 1936 KingEdward VIII removed it from officialBritish royal courtdress codes.
The over-frock, like other body coats, could not survive the increasing cost of thebespoke tailoring required to make it fit properly around the waist to create the classical "hour-glass" silhouette. In the first decades of the 20th century, it was replaced by sack overcoats like theChesterfield coat, theguard's coat, and theUlster coat and theInverness coats and such, mirroring the change from frock coats to modern suit jackets. The expensive over-frock became impractical in comparison.
