Evening Wear Ensemble

[Troglodyte]

It's the collar arrangement that makes the doublet interesting - it falls open naturally, but resists being laid flat. I have forced it flat, like the Balmoral style, but the inner seams are then on show and the effect is far from acceptable.

All the other Kenmore doublets I have seen button right up to the throat, with a bit of a gap at the front of the collar to allow the jabot to worn in the usual way - rather like the collar on a Montrose doublet.

This one seem to be some where between the usual Kenmore and the Balmoral, like yours. Perhaps the open throat style of mine was to make it a bit more ralaxed, or to make an alternative to a lace jabot a possibility. I have tried it with an equestrian-style stock (like the sort of thing dressage eventers wear with a stick-pin) and that works as well as a jabot, as the conventionally-tied stock has a degree of bulk in its knot, which sits neatly in the collar opening.




This image is the nearest to mine as an illustrated example I have found - from an early 1960s (possibly 1950s) catalogue by R. W. Forsyth, and they identify it as a 'Morar' and give the 'Montrose' as either single- or double-breasted versions of a doublet without 'tashes'.

My guess is that different makers had their own interpretations of the theme, and named it according to their own fancy in order to maintain the distinction. I think mine, being made by Campbells of Beauley, was an individually-commissioned item, possibly copied from an image - I have known them to do that for other customers, when a photo from the Edwardian period has shown the style to copy.