With the Christmas season just around the corner, you and your loved ones might be feeling winter creeping in already and are probably making adjustments to battle it out with the cold this year. This brings our attention closer to suitable clothing that can help us stay warm and keep the chills out. You might have already emptied out the cupboard in search of your favorite blankets that can make winters all the cozier and comfy to bear with. However, in this post, we would like to discuss blazers and coats that everyone loves to wear in order to keep themselves covered against windy outdoors and continue feeling toasty throughout the rest of your day. So without any further a due let’s discover together how it all began for these two articles of clothing.
Blazers
In its simplest of definition, blazers are basically a type of jacket that resembles more closely towards a suit jacket but leans more towards the casual side of all things sartorial. However, they tend to be considered more formal in nature when compared with a sport’s coat or jacket. Blazers can be worn by people along with a variety of clothes such as a dress shirt or a necktie. It goes well with even a plain T-Shirt. You can wear them with pants and jeans as well. Many blazers often support naval-style buttons made out of metal. Now let us look at their origins and how they came to be so popular with the masses.
Origin Story
The earliest known public sighting for the garment dates back to 1825 when it was worn by members of the Lady Margaret Boat Club which is the rowing club for St. John’s College in Cambridge, England. This point of origin is further reflected by Jack Carlson who wrote the book ‘Rowing Blazers’ in July 2014. According to his personal account, the very first of their kind blazers had an extremely loose-fitting and were specially fashioned to keep boat rowers warm during chilly training sessions and early morning races. Moreover, the earliest forms of blazers were often embellished with colorful patterns that made them quite unique and different. All of this made them instantly recognizable from afar.
A couple of years went by, and blazers became a standard choice for many students to wear them even when they were not participating in a sporting event or a competition. Soon they were to be transformed into a status symbol while all the more gaining popularity from the masses. While the ‘red blazers’ are still adorned by members of the Lady Margaret Boat Club to this day, blazers in all-purpose moved out and spread their influence across the general population. It was during the second half of the 19th century when they began to show their impact clearly and visibly as they were already starting to renovate the choice of attire for many individuals belonging to different walks of life.
The Evolution of Blazers Their Style
Over the years blazers have undergone several design changes and adjustments to keep up with current patterns and trends. Today we can clearly see them supporting a wide variety of looks that show both classical and traditional values as well as seasonal patterns and alterations. Some of these variations included the single-breasted vs. the double-breasted blazers. The single-breasted blazers have two halves. The halves can be buttoned together and they can have two to three buttons. The double-breasted blazers, on the other hand, are more formal looking and they might have six to eight buttons which help to pin the extra fabric that generally folds from left to right.
There are several pockets in a blazer and all of them are put there to fulfill a certain purpose. The upper pocket around the chest area is used to keep handkerchiefs only. The big pocket at the waist region is free for your use. However, make sure that you do not stuff it too much as it will ruin the fine lining of the garment and spoil your look. Some blazers also have a small ticket pocket placed directly above the lower big pocket. They were meant to be used to keep your train tickets.
Some blazers also have slits or vents at the lower back and they were placed to keep you looking good while riding a horse. At the top of some blazers, you can find lapels and along with them a lapel buttonhole. This was originally designed to button up the top region of the blazer, however, many people use it to decorate blazers with a boutonniere. For formal occasions, white and red flowers are considered appropriate whereas for less formal and more casual events you can choose from a wide variety of floral decorations.
How to Wear Blazers?
When it comes to styling your blazers it is reassuring to know that the garment can be quite versatile, to say the least. You can wear blazers on different occasions and still deliver a powerful statement about yourself. The essence lies in determining just how formal the occasion is and from their onwards you can make slight adjustments to match the attire of the day. Formal events mandate that you wear blazers with a pair of fine trousers, an elegant looking shirt, and a tie if it calls for it. For less formal events you can easily pair your blazers with a pair of chinos or jeans along with your choice of t-shirt and even a polo shirt.
Coats
When it comes to keeping your upper body warm as well as deliver a strong fashion statement, nothing can topple a coat as the choice of garment for both men and women. They have been typically designed to have long sleeves along with an opening that runs down the front side of the garment. There are several options to close them including belts, buttons, hook and loop fasteners, as well as zippers. Coats can also come with additional features like collars, hoods, and shoulder straps. Considered as one of the earliest references to a clothing category in the English language, coats, and their mention can be dated back to the 13th century. During that time coat was written as cote. The word cote emerges from the Latin and Old French terminology known as ‘Cottus’ and was referred to represent woolen garments.
Origin Story
In order to really get to the bottom of the mystery behind the origin of coats, we need to dive deep and seek out the answer by studying the history and development of outerwear for that matter. While pinpointing the exact place and date of origin can be difficult there is no doubt that many historians agree that the first form of outerwear originated in the Paleolithic period dating back to 40,000 BC where the fur capes were introduced and were meant to cover the shoulders. We fast forward to the time period of 1350-1580 BC where the Egyptian priests started wearing leopard skins for ceremonies. As time progressed so did the style for clothes used for wrapping the body. In the Middle Ages, men’s gown was invented. Today you can easily find portraits of King Henry VIII from the era of early 16th century that show him wearing elaborated knee-length doublets. It was not until 1800 that greatcoats made an entrance.
The wholesale blazers is perhaps what kick-started the coat industry as fashionable apparel for the well-endowed people living around 1850s. They were an alternative to the previously mentioned greatcoats worn by British and French soldiers during the First World War. Since then within a couple of decades, a lot of variations to the garment were made through the direct influence of the general public as well as the fashion industry. The most prominent of these changes was how drastically the length of the coat was reduced for both men and women. In modern times, the coat was also frequently being replaced by another term known as the ‘jacket’. However, there still is a clear distinction between them that has continued to exist in the present.
How to Wear Coats?
If you are an aficionado when it comes to wearing the right clothes and making aesthetically appealing choices for your attires throughout the day, then it doesn’t come as a surprise that wearing coats in the proper manner matters to you a lot. It seems like adorning a coat is accompanied by a proper set of ethics.
