Timeline of Evening Dress Jackets

[OC Richard]

Shedding light on an earlier period, 1909, are the pages from a Forsyth calalogue showed on the House Of Labhran site.

(Since very few of my vintage catalogues have dates, these having to be inferred, I wonder how the 1909 attribution was arrived at.)

It shows a period before the Coatee (or Prince Charlie Coatee) was introduced, before the small pocket-shaped sealskin Evening Dress sporrans appeared.

We have two gents wearing the Doublet. This one shows the older more highly accessorised style. The overall look has changed little from the 1860s.



This Doublet-wearing fellow is sporting the new, pared-down, sleeker look which would define 20th century Evening Dress.



And here we have the Evening Argyll jacket, in velveteen and trimmed.

BTW there is nothing piper-specific about this costume; Argyll Evening Dress jackets are often seen in the mid-19th century.



Here's a photo of a gent wearing a not dissimilar outfit



Interesting to see the Day Dress/Outdoor Dress of the period. Here we do see the new small sporran, which tends to confirm the idea that Day sporrans underwent the change first, followed by Evening sporrans some time later. This sporran looks like a conscious revival of the 18th century sporran with hinged brass top, and made of deerskin.



Here is a virtually identical jacket and vest (vest, not waistcoat!) down to the cuff style.