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The Chesterfield is a formal, dark, knee-length overcoat with a velvet collar introduced around the 1840s in the United Kingdom, with prominence attributed to its namesake George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield, then a leader of British fashion.[1][2]
The Chesterfield coat, with its heavy waist suppression using a waist seam, gradually replaced the over-frock coat during the second half of the 19th century as a choice for a formal overcoat, and survived as a coat of choice over the progression from frock coat everyday wear to the introduction of the lounge suit, but remained principally associated with formal morning dress and white tie.
A less formal derivation is the similar, but with a lighter fabric, slightly shorter, top coat called covert coat.
- ^ "A Man's Guide to Overcoats". artofmanliness.com. December 11, 2012. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
- ^ Cumming, Valerie; Cunnington, C. W.; Cunnington, P. E. (2010-11-15). The Dictionary of Fashion History. Oxford; New York: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 46. ISBN 9781847885333.