A Brief History of the Duffle Coat

The Duffle coat is another one of Britain's iconic items of fashion that found it's way from being an item of functional wear.

It is now one of the best raise to fame success stories in respect to fashion that Britain offers, more often than not, an essential item in every wardrobe, perhaps because it is the only garment in a gentleman's wardrobe to have a hood. Initially starting off as predominately a man's item of fashion, it rose to popularity during it's years and now is widely worn by women.

The iconic "Monty" Duffle coat

The genesis of the duffle coat lies with 19th century British fashion designer John Partridge, the common myth is that the coat comes form the Belgium town "Duffel" but this however is a misconception, the iconic toggle fasteners on the garment had been used in Britain for over 200 years. the garment was initially used by sailors as a piece of functional wear, thus it found popularity within the British Navy during WW1 and WW2.

The iconic "Monty" Duffle coat worn by the Navy

However while worn by the armed forces, two gents in particular really did act as trendsetting trailblazers and set the scene for the duffle coat - namely Field Marshall Montgomery and Sir David Stirling as shown in the picture below:

Though of course not yet in it's fashionable state, these large, functional, work-wear duffle coats were popular amongst various circles within the armed forces.

The trend kicked off during the 1950's and 60's moreso and the garment became more fitted and adapted to fashion trends and thus found it's way in popular culture and TV through the likes of Paddington Bear first seen in 1958, becoming a large hit amongst children:

Most nowadays probably would not know who the Field Marshall who fist donned this jacket is but know what Monty jacket it - a true testament to the power of the success of this garment.

A Brief History of Tweed

Tweed, an icon of British country life, nothing is perhaps more instantly recognisable as British fashion than a classic tweed woven garment.

A HW45 Thelma Hat (Biscuit) and LTW09 Ladies Field Jacket 

The story of tweed is an amusing one, many would think it is after the river tweed that flows through Scotland, however it is quite comical to learn the fact that the name owes it's inception to a simple error in misreading an invoice! Tweel was the original name as a Scottish take on the word twill - its genesis being the fabrics twilled pattern, in 1826 William Watson hailing from Hawick to a London trader James Locke, due to a legibility error or some other factor, Locke misread the name as Tweed rather than tweel and thus the name Tweed as we know it was born. 

W221 and W226 Blazer and Waistcoat respectively (C001L Harris Tweed)

However the style of tweed and its association with gentry, aristocracy came about mid 19th century with the British nobles bringing about what was called estate tweeds. It was common practise amongst the classes of nobility to purchase estates purely for hunting and game keeping, the tweed would protect the wearer from the cold and moist and is considered informal wear by the social classes who adorned it in those days and would often be worn with Wellington's (when hunting) or with tanned shoes when not in the fields. 

The hunting estates coupled with the typical wearing of tweed hence gave birth to what was known as estate tweeds, the staff that would look after the estate were also clad in estate tweed to follow Highland traditions and also to ensure their staff were appropriately shielded from the elements,  

http://pages.rapha.cc/stories/tweed-the-original-performance-fabric

The Highland tradition of specific patterns serving as a distinct identity of each clan surfaced by each twilled pattern specific to an estate as a part of staff uniform. From the 1830's onwards, tweed had become a widespread fashion throughout all estates, and aristocrats would not be seen as genuine had they not followed trend.

LTW09 Ladies Field Jacket, HW57 Helmsley Cap, LTW08 Gilet (Light Green)

In the 1840's the countess of Dunmore introduced Harris Tweed amongst her circles and promoted it heavily to the extent that tweed is now synonymous with the quality and commanding stature of Harris Tweed.

We at Oxford Blue sell a wide range of Harris Tweed garments from blazers, waistcoats, hats and many more, one can always tell a genuine Harris Tweed garment by its smooth feel even though typically tweed is characteristically coarse, visit www.oxfordblueonline.co.uk for more.