A brief history of coats: everything you need to know

Single- or double-breasted coats originated from the Spanish provinces in the 18th century, where it was considered a workers‘/peasants‘ version of clothing. Back then, similar clothes were called palletoque — that is made of two words: pallium "spacious cloak" and toque "headwear".

Over the years, this comfortable and functional item has gradually garnered attention in other European countries — France, England, Russia. Interestingly, in each of these countries this kind of clothing pursued its own development path. Thus, it was the English who brought diversity, aristocracy, and elegance to the Spanish commoners’ clothing.

In the East, coats (also called robes at the time) were not only a wearable item of clothing, but also a status indicator. Subordinates were given a robe as a gift and a sign of promotion. It was decorated with embroidery, fur, and other various details.

In China, embroidery on a coat made people understand who was standing before them. For example, a stork meant it was a person of the highest rank among civil servants, whereas an embroidered magpie was worn only by the peasants.

The nomads who travelled all over the world along the famous "Silk Road", earlier laid by Marco Polo through Mongolia, Africa, South Asia and to the countries of the Middle East, created the trend of decorating outerwear. The designs and embroidery were always symbolic and helped the wearer in their mission, brought good luck, defended and protected them.

In Russia, one could hear the word "coat" very rarely. This kind of men’s clothes were named after its creators — Spencer, Carrick, Chesterfield. Alexander Pushkin did not know the word "coat", since the first prototype of such kind of outerwear appeared in rainy Petersburg only a year after the death of the classic, that is in 1838.

Once upon a time a Scottish man got wet in the rain coming back home from work. One of the sleeves of his cloak was smeared with rubber. He saw that the dirty sleeve wasn’t wet at all, and that made him think of creating a cloth that wouldn’t let the water get through. Like this Charles Macintosh created a cloak which goes by his name since then. He received a patent for his invention and began to produce impermeable "macintosh" cloaks. Back in the 18th century, coats were very long, so a button was sewn on the back to clutch the hem and avoid it getting dirty.

It is interesting that the popular magazine Cosmopolitan sent its employee on the same trip at the same time. The difference was that Elizabeth Bisland was supposed to be moving in the opposite direction. Bookmakers  accepted the bets in rush: "Which of the ladies will manage to get the task done faster?" Most people believed it was not possible to accomplish such a thing at all.

Почему Нелли Блай выбрала для путешествия именно клетчатое пальто до сих пор неизвестно. Она обогнула Землю за 72 дня 6 часов, 10 минут и 11 секунд. А Элизабет Бислэенд из Cosmopolitan финишировала на четыре дня позже, опоздав в Саутгемптоне на пароход. Только представьте масштаб популярности клетчатых пальто в тот период.

И, кстати, PRADA зимой 2013 года, явно вдохновились Нелли Блай.