Costume History Class

Jean's Webpage for Costume History Class

The History of Fashion and Dress /
Theatre 355 Main Page

Email me: jlc5f@virginia.edu

Assignment: Study Garment / 1920s

My study garment is a "swagger" coat from the early 1950s - today we would call this shape a swing coat or a trapeze coat. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1989), a swagger-coat is "a three-quarter-length ladies' coat cut with a loose flare from the shoulders (particularly fashionable in the 1930s)."

My guess is that the term was derived from a secondary meaning of the word "swagger," one who causes something to 'swag' or sway (1653, Rabelais, Le brimbaleur qui tient le cocquemart, I, ii, 17, translated to English by Urquhart).

Although this particular shape wasn't named until later, one can see the precursors of this style during the 1920s.

1926

A variety of coats designed in 1926. Characteristics of Twenties coats were a straight line in front, a deep V-neckline with a shawl or fur collar, fullness in the upper back, and a closure (or wrap) at the hip.

The top image shows a kimono sleeved coat, a dolman sleeved coat, and a straight sleeved coat, all of which show the typical fullness in the top back, while preserving the straight line from the hips to the hem. Evening wraps were much looser, and emphasized the upper back fullness even more. The lower image shows two capes and a plain, straight coat. -- Vogue Fashion Bi-Monthly, Oct.-Nov. 1926, p. 22-23.

As you can see below, the development of the full-backed or "swagger" coat began in the 1920s, although the name wasn't applied until the early 1930s.

1926

"A Paquin coat of bois-de-rose velvet, trimmed with rose-beige fox." -- "Sketched in Paris." Vogue Fashion Bi-monthly (v.1, no.3), Feb.-Mar. 1926, p. 18.

1926

"Misses coat no. 8653 - A smart flared coat of cheviot overlaps in front to fasten at either side. Applied bands form the trimming." -- Vogue Fashion Bi-Monthly (v.1, no.7), Oct.-Nov. 1926, p. 27.

1929

"Cheruit's "Je t'attendais" is a black broadcloth coat with a full cape back border with grey astrakhan, which also forms the draped collar." -- Vogue (New York ed.), Oct. 12, 1929, p. 80.

For information on 1930s and pre-WWII 1940s, see the next page.

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