Description:
Woman's semi-fitted jacket, known as a paletot, a French term for (originally) a man's unfitted, more utilitarian jacket sometimes worn in association with the sea. This woman's example from the mid 19th century descended in the Bridges family of Hardwick and South Deerfield, Massachusetts, possibly worn by Martha Bridges (b.1842) or Elizabeth Bridges (b. 1831). The survival of this jacket illustrates the adherence by women in western Massachusetts to fashionable forms of outerwear of the mid-19th century, as well as the influence of menswear on women's dress. Paletots or semi-fitted jackets complimented the large, bell and eliptical-shaped skirts of fashionable women's dresses at this time. When worn with these fashions, paletots created a pyramid silhouette. This example is hand stitched, and although fairly simple, was probably made by a dressmaker or experienced amateur sewer. The jacket is made of dark brown silk velvet trimmed with matching satin-weave silk trim. The garment features coat sleeves (two seams for gentle shaping). the body of the coat is cut to fall loosely over the torso, and flares our below the elevated waistline. The garment secures down the center front with two ornate frog closures, the style of which was inspired by men's military garments earlier in the 19th century. These frog closures are, however, largely decorative, and three brass hook and eye closers perform most fo the work closing the garment. The jacket is lined in a dark, plain weave cotton.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2016.1 |
