A Brief History of Outerwear For Men

Let us begin a stroll down the fashion timeline of men's outerwear.

Ancient Rome - The cloaks worn by ancient Romans are the earliest relevant outerwear recorded. They were made from cotton because temperatures did not allow thicker fabrics. The high status Romans wore marked cloaks while the lower standing citizens adorned unmarked ones.

The Renaissance - The 1500s, and the only outerwear we can find in this era is the doublet. Meant originally to be worn under armor, the doublet had padded chests and was only waist length with tabs to extend the length from behind.

The 18th Century - The eighteenth century saw the introduction of the fist outerwear, resembling the kind we wear today. These were heavy woolen coats, extending to the knee and cut at the backs and by the underarms to allow easier horse riding.

The 19th Century - The advent of the 19th century brought about a quantum leap in fashion and mens outerwear was a prominent part of it. Gone were the cloaks and the closely stitched long coats took their place. Upto the mid nineteenth century, frock coats and cutaways were still popular but by the end of the century came the great industrial revolution and that, along with everything else totally changed the very mindset of men's outerwear. In came the short coat for business wear and the long knee length, closely tailored variant as evening wear.

And finally the great 20th and 21st centuries - As fast as the world has changed in the 20th and 21st centuries, so have clothing trends. In the outerwear category, the 20th century started with tailcoats as preferred formal wear. After the collapse of the stock exchange in 1929, the broader double breasted coats defined a new trend. The mid 20th century saw a shift of preference from formal to casual clothing and coats went out of fashion for a while. And then came the hippies, a new breed of youth the world couldn't imagine was their own, but their contribution to fashion was enormous. The 60s to 80s saw colors, a host of materials, the inclination towards looking sexy with a whole hearted approach to style. After that, the men's overcoat started undergoing rapid changes, double-breasted coats came in and out of fashion dictated by pop and movie icons. Leather, nylon, camelhair and velvet took a totally new look and feel. This is the age where practicality met style and thus began a process which has not ended yet.

From the days of the cloak, the mens overcoat has come a long way and evolved into the sleek and powerful looking garb we consider it today.