Yoke

[Monitor]

Are there any rules to this yoke business? Can you have one on the front and the back of the jacket? Pointed or straight? Which one do you prefer and why?

 

[ton312]

I'm not a fan of the front yoke. I think it's a nice detail on the back tho. Gives a little more structure and shape across the shoulders. My fav is the classic western style pointed yoke.

 

[Fanch]

I really like the back yoke but for whatever reason, I am not particularly a fan of the front yoke.

 

[Carlos840]

As the other guys have said, not a fan of the front yoke, kinda like the back one.

I do however like the front yoke on the Dustbowl, probably because it's a triple stitched seam rather than the usual folded seam.
To me it just looks nicer.

 

[Fanch]

Well, ton312 and I said basically the same thing simultaneously. I suppose brilliant minds think alike ... My Pioneer has a front yoke and would have preferred its absence for a cleaner look.


Underneath the back yoke on my Pioneer is a pleated vertical center arrangement that gives maybe better range of motion that is kind of a nice touch.

 

[Monitor]

Huh! I'm asking because I'm really starting to appreciate the look of a front pointed yoke, for whatever reason. But I'm wondering if such a jacket should have a back yoke as well & whether it would work better if it's a straight one, aesthetically?

 

[handymike]

• 
  If I were to order a mid-length button coat, I'd go Western ala SJC. For shorter waist length jackets, the zip pocket is enough ornament for me.

 

[Fanch]

Just realized my Teamster has a horizontal front yoke with which I am OK.


The picture on the left was taken when new; the pic on the right a couple of years later.

 

[Monitor]

That works so well on your jacket, Fanch!

 

[Fanch]

Thanks Monitor. Aesthetically the plain horizontal front yoke (Teamster and 59'er HWM) is more pleasing to my eye than the V shaped front yoke on my Pioneer but can't tell you exactly why that is my perception.

 

[ButteMT61]

It's funny - I never think about a yoke unless it's really out of place. Some models it looks good on, some not so much.
I'm kinda with @ton312 too on the western styled yokes. But again, even on shirts, it's dependent on the style, material, etc.

 

[Cooperson]

I do appreciate the clean, well draped, look of a plain fronted half-belt, but the front yoke on my kudu Pioneer just suits the pattern well.

 

[handymike]

that's a pretty jacket Cooperson!

 

[Cooperson]

that's a pretty jacket Cooperson!

Thanks handymike, it's by far the most comfortable wearing jacket I own, soft as a mouse's ear as they say round theses parts

 

[Rabbit]

Huh! I'm asking because I'm really starting to appreciate the look of a front pointed yoke, for whatever reason. But I'm wondering if such a jacket should have a back yoke as well & whether it would work better if it's a straight one, aesthetically?

I don't recall seeing a vintage jacket that has a front yoke but no back yoke, so I guess such a combination would be at least a rare one. If there's a front yoke then yes, a back yoke would be the usual thing. All of the other combinations that you could think of (straight, pointed, front, back in all combinations, or back only) I've seen plenty of. I'm indifferent to all these varieties as long as the yoke(s) fit the design and don't look fancy or western.

 

[Monitor]

Rabbit, so there's usually both present, huh. Thanks for the tip! Though, what do you by fancy?

This would be the western one, right?

I'm using Aero's as an example as their site is one place that's got all the versions I know of, so I don't have to image search.

 

[Bunyip]

I insist on a back yoke for my jackets. I just really like the extra bit of detail. I also like the front yolk, depending on design I guess.

 

[ton312]

I love this back yoke/ gusset combo on a j-106 I passed along. I deliberately left these details out of my bootlegger but there's a part of me that wishes I hadn't.
Even tho neither feature offers any real functionality they do add nice detail to the back. Don't think I'll ever do a "plain" back again.

 

[Rabbit]

Monitor, either both front and back, or back only. Front only I haven't seen. The pointed ones don't have to look western. That one on the Aero you posted doesn't look western to me.
I don't know who started doing pointed yokes historically, so I choose to call a yoke "western" if it looks something like the ones from Dinerman quoted below (I don't have any western leather jacket pics handy, it's the same thing in textile jackets, anyway).

By fancy I mean sort of the same thing, effectively. Fancy here basically means ornamental, but plenty of it. Western stuff tends to have some fancy design details such as heavily pointed yokes, pocket flaps in crazy shapes, things like that. So with regard to yokes by fancy I mean heavily pointed yokes, or the extreme case of those almost heart-shapes yokes.

1950s Lasso Mr. El Dorado western jacket

1960s H Bar C jacket

1950s Land-N-Lakes

The 1930s-40s German DB surcoats sometimes have somewhat fancy yokes, like in the second collage (the first one looks more moderate to me). So, fancy doesn't always mean western, and western is often but not always fancy.

These more plain ones are German (center two) and French:

 

[Superfluous]

I like straight front yokes on longer jackets, but not half belt length jackets. Back yokes work regardless of length.