Show off the sports coats.

[Two Types]

The source from Guttersnipe above refers to late 1930s paddock jackets having four button cuffs. Worth noting that BK's jacket has a single button at the cuff.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

As BK indicates, the term "paddock cut" is not modern "internet tailoring jargon." I too have seen contemporary references. BK are you referring to this Apparel Arts? Here is another (modern) discussion of paddock jackets.

Not that one, no.

The problem with most internet commentators (and Gentleman's Gazette above is egregious) is that they need to learn to put quote marks around what they're quoting. Otherwise we don't know the veracity of their information. For this reason, in my search for contemporary references to "Paddock" suits/jackets, I have to discount the vast majority of "sources". There are several links (several to Apparel Arts) like that one on my discounted list. The simple expedient of a small amount of useful quoting would transfer them to the reliable source material pile, as I don't actually doubt that what the commentator says is a true reflection of the copy, most of the time.

I did find an Esquire reference from 1939 though, "Seen in the act of posing is the new Paddock model suit", with illustration.

Note that your AA link above also refers to a Paddock hat! This all sounds to me like fashion industry guff. They were desperate to sell more suits/clothes, so came up with some new trendy word and applied it to existing styles.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Marketing hype. Undoubtedly well dressed - no excuse not to be, given the VAST income of the Duchy - he was trade ambassador for among other things the British textile and fashion industries. The guff is part of the mission. Buy British!

P.P.S. Slightly off subject, but I have to admit that whenever I read or hear about the Prince of Wales being such a leader of style, I switch off. I would be really interested to look more deeply into the subject and find out how much was real and how much was hype. And (politics alert!!) I just look at photos of him and think "horrible old Nazi" or "traitor"!

 

[Fastuni]

@Twp Types
Haha. I'm with you on this. I can't help thinking "smarmy fascist twit" every time I see the PoW-DoW.

I would be really interested to look more deeply into the subject and find out how much was real and how much was hype.

This requires a historian with passion for 1930's clothing... if you can demystify Oxford bags, debunk the Duke.

The source from Guttersnipe above refers to late 1930s paddock jackets having four button cuffs. Worth noting that BK's jacket has a single button at the cuff.

It's not a must. Some Paddocks also had turn-up cuffs.

 

[Two Types]

This is an advert for Paddock Coats from 1903. So the name certainly wasn't a new thing in the 1930s.

I did wonder whether or not that refers to a 'jacket' or a 'coat'. However, given the advert also refers to overcoats I suspect the use of 'Paddock Coat' refers to what would commonly be called a jacket. So all we need are some early 1900s illustrations/photos/patterns for early period 'paddock coats'.

 

[Guttersnipe]

@ BK, I definitely agree with you about the academic laxity of Gentlemen's Gazette when it comes to citation. However, I do enjoy it as a blog and for all the pretty illustrations.

@ Fastuni and Two Types, I'm both with and against you on this point. The DoW politics were . . . shall we say . . . dodgy at best. Although, I'm somewhat inclined to give the benefit of doubt and believe he was really just a naive upper class twit. I've read that period observers who knew him socially described him as vapid and possessing an equine-like intelligence . . .

That said, his sartorial influence is undeniable, at least in the States. Period sources like Apparel Arts and Esquire are full of articles singing his praises as a fashionisto.

 

[Metatron]

...And he just looks cool in every photo. I guess I am blessed in that I manage to separate aesthetics from their nasty associations.

 

[Two Types]

...And he just looks cool in every photo. I guess I am blessed in that I manage to separate aesthetics from their nasty associations.

I normally can: it's just that whenever I see him all I can think of is my Dad swearing: "Bloody Fascist" if he was at home, or "Nazi ****" if he was in the pub.

 

[DamianM]

The jacket is definitely late 20s. Everything about it says 20s.

The shoulder seam is nothing strange for the way this was constructed. I forgot the name of it. I have a 2 -20s jackets and 1 tux with the same seam placement, then I had a 50s jacket with that seam as well.

Its mid to late 20s no doubt.

 

[esteban68]

This is an advert for Paddock Coats from 1903. So the name certainly wasn't a new thing in the 1930s.

I did wonder whether or not that refers to a 'jacket' or a 'coat'. However, given the advert also refers to overcoats I suspect the use of 'Paddock Coat' refers to what would commonly be called a jacket. So all we need are some early 1900s illustrations/photos/patterns for early period 'paddock coats'.

Nice find TT, just down the street from me in my home town .....interesting to note that Chesterfield was quite a small provincial market town very close to the Chatsworth estate where there was and still is and indeed throughout Derbyshire still much equestrian stuff going on!

 

[Guttersnipe]

When I first spotted this jacket on the rail my immediate thought was that it was early. It also screamed 'equestrian' at me. It was beside two other equestrian jackets: one was (by patent number and label style) late forties/early fifties. The other was almost exactly the same but the label suggested 1980s . . .

Guttersnipe: Out of interest (since I have no experience of horse riding) why is a single vent better than double vents on an equestrian jacket?

As I've always understood it, the term "paddock" was sort of slang term for certain types of sport jackets, simialr to terms like "spectator" or "co-respondent." A paddock is the name of the (usually) semi-enclosed structure where horses are kept temporarily at a track before and after running races. The name "paddock jacket" is an allusion to their popularity with with snappy gents (and probably racetrack sharpies too) who wore sporty pseudo-equestrian/country wear for the occasion. So your're 100% correct is detecting an equestrian vibe.

The reason a center vent is better for riding is that it breaks to the sides while sitting astride the saddle, whereas, the center portion of a dual vented jacket tend to get caught between your rump and the seat of the saddle. Similarly, that's why hacking jackets also often have a high button stance and are usually designed to have a cutaway front. Does that make sense?

Here is a classic, 100% authentic hacking jacket:

This is an advert for Paddock Coats from 1903. So the name certainly wasn't a new thing in the 1930s.

I did wonder whether or not that refers to a 'jacket' or a 'coat'. However, given the advert also refers to overcoats I suspect the use of 'Paddock Coat' refers to what would commonly be called a jacket. So all we need are some early 1900s illustrations/photos/patterns for early period 'paddock coats'.

It's all the more confusing because the paddock reference is placed immediately below overcoats and above suitings!

 

[Two Types]

Another newspaper reference. This is a list of clothes lost by Alfred von Drachstedt when the Titanic was sunk in 1912:

Since he claimed tom have lost four overcoats, a theatre coat and an Ulster, I suspect the two paddock coats are jackets rather than overcoats. of course he may have just been exaggerating to claim the insurance money. After all, he did claim to have lost 15 nightshirts and 120 ties!

 

[Two Types]

P.S. He must have been lying: no one only has 120 ties.

 

[Two Types]

Paddock Coats in 1881:

Same length as an Ulster, but a different cut. For wearing to race meeting and "driving to covert".

 

[Fastuni]

You mean 1881 right?

 

[Two Types]

Edited.

 

[Two Types]

Having had a look at newspapers from the 1930s, it appears that the British equestrian jackets in this style (two button, high fastening, long skirt & side vents) were generally referred to as 'Hacking jackets' and the phrase 'Paddock jacket' doesn't seem to have been in use. I will try to post evidence over the weekend.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Same length as an ulster - an overcoat.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Same length as an ulster - an overcoat.

While the 1881 reference is interesting for it's earliness, I wouldn't put too much stock in the 19th century century meaning of the term in the context of our discussion of 20th century clothing. After all, the 1890s and 1910s were a highly transitory period as far as men's wear goes.

For example, here is a "sack" coat by 19th and 20th century definitions:

1860s

1880s (moving towards what we recognize as a lounge jacket)

mid-20th century

 

[Two Types]

I have done a bit of quick newspaper research and found some background on equestrian fashions of the 1930s. I have posted it in the long-dormant Hacking Jackets thread.

My theory is this: in the 1930s horse riding became increasingly popular in the UK. This led to an increased wearing of hacking jackets (two button, high fastening, skirted, double vented), which were worn by men outside of rural areas. As such, this fashion for hacking jackets was picked up by outsiders and spread to Germany, USA etc as the turf or paddock cut.

I could find nothing to suggest that the style of hacking jackets changed in the 1930s, simply that they became more widespread. Furthermore, BK's jacket is high quality i.e. not likely to be a thirties 30shilling fashion 'hacking jacket'.