It is believed that the fabric used for this frock coat was originally
a sack gown. The gown most likely was unable to be
conserved but had enough usable material to make this period coat most
likely during WWII. What is known is that this coat comes
from a theater that disbanded in the 1950's out in
California. During the 1940's fabric was highly rationed
and many theaters did take older clothing to remake into costumes for
the stage.
Below are pictures in detail of the coat. The shirt is only used
to give some idea of what the coat may have looked like on
stage. The coat does have Art Deco buttons, but the
embroidery, copper bullion, is contemperanous with the fabric.
The above pictures are of the front, back, and cuff of the coat.
You can easily see the detail of the cuff, including the wonderful
linen backed Brocade and metallic embroidery.
The above pictures are of the left breast, the waist front, and one of
the pockets. In addition to the reuse of the fabric and
embroidery, the costumer added a few small elements; most likely to
make it dazziling on stage. One of the elements is the
before mentioned Art Deco buttons, but the rhinestones clearly visable
in the last picture were also added in the 1940's.
In this picture, you maybe able to see
some of the damage to the fabric along the right sleeve. This
picture is taken from the back of the coat. Although there are
some small problems with the fabric, it is, for the most part, very
stable.
