Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1940

Date Range To

1955

Materials

WOOL, SATIN?, PLASTIC

No. Pieces

1

Height

120.3

Length

62.5

Width

7.0

Description

CHESTERFIELD STYLE OVERCOAT. BLACK WOOL, WITH A FAINT PINSTRIPE PATTERN ON OUTSIDE. HAS NOTCHED LAPELS; LAPELS END IN A V-SHAPE; COLLAR IS NOT AS WIDE AS LAPEL. JACKET IS DOUBLE BREASTED; BUTTONS ARE BLACK PLASTIC. HAS 1 FLAPPED WELT POCKET ON OUTSIDE RIGHT, AND TWO FLAPPED WELT POCKETS ON OUTSIDE, LEFT. INSIDE OF JACKET HAS TWO WELT POCKETS, ONE ON RIGHT BREAST, AND ONE ON LEFT WAIST. A TAG INSIDE RIGHT BREAST POCKET READS "14708 15/6 G.2X 372 PASSED NO 76". THERE ARE ALSO THREE BUTTONS SEWN ONTO INSIDE OF JACKET, TWO SMALL AND ONE LARGE. INSIDE OF JACKET HAS A BLACK SATIN? LINING. CUFFS OF SLEEVES EACH HAVE 4 MOCK PLASTIC BUTTONS. AT BACK OF COAT, BOTTOM IS SPLIT. THERE IS A WHITISH SPOT ON BACK OF COAT.

Subjects

CLOTHING-OUTERWEAR

Historical Association

PERSONAL CARE

FINE ARTS

History

THE CHESTERFIELD COAT TRADITIONALLY HAD A VELVET COLLAR, WHICH THIS COAT DOES NOT, BUT OTHERWISE IS THE SAME STYLE. THE CHESTERFIELD COAT WAS POPULAR IN THE LATE 1920S THROUGH 1940, BUT THE PLASTIC BUTTONS ON THIS COAT INDICATE THAT THE COAT WAS MADE AFTER WORLD WAR II. POSSIBLY MADE TO REPRODUCE AN EARLIER POPULAR STYLE. DONOR IS A HIGH SCHOOL PHYS. ED. TEACHER. SHE DID DRAMA IN SCHOOLS AND LOCAL THEATRE, AND ENTIRE COLLECTION WAS GIVEN TO HER BY LOCAL PEOPLE. **** NARRATIVE AND OVERCOAT INSIGHT BELOW SUBMITTED BY DONOR AND COLLECTIONS VOLUNTEER GAIL HOLLAND ON 19 APRIL 2011. “DONOR IS A TEACHER, PRIMARILY JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH SCIENCES, AND GIFTED PROGRAM. SHE HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN ASPECTS OF LOCAL THEATRE WORK FOR MANY YEARS, INCLUDING SCHOOL DRAMA PRODUCTIONS AND COMMUNITY THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS, NAMELY LETHBRIDGE MUSICAL THEATRE AND PLAYGOERS OF LETHBRIDGE. WITH AN INTEREST IN PERIOD TYPE FASHIONS AND DRESS, AND THEATRICAL COSTUMING, OVER THE YEARS SHE HAD GATHERED A SMALL COLLECTION, OF SUCH COSTUME PIECES OR GARMENTS. THESE ITEMS WERE ACQUIRED FROM LOCAL AND AREA PEOPLE WHO HAD BECOME AWARE OF THESE INTERESTS AND PASSED THEM ALONG TO HER. THEY WERE STORED IN HER HOME IN ORDER TO MORE EFFECTIVELY PRESERVE THEM. SOME PIECES WERE USED IN PRODUCTIONS, SOME SERVED AS REFERENCES FOR CONSTRUCTION DETAILS AND METHODS-USEFUL IN REPRODUCTION OF PERIOD DRESS, WHILE OTHERS-THOUGHT NOT USED, CONTINUED TO BE STORED FOR POSSIBLE USE OR REFERENCE .SOME PIECES WERE MADE OF DELICATE FABRICS OR MATERIALS AND WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO USE IN ANY RIGOROUS STAGE MOVEMENTS. SOME GARMENTS WERE OF SMALL SIZES THAT WOULD NOT FIT THE CURRENT SIZES IN GENERAL OF CAST MEMBERS.” “THIS OVERCOAT WAS USED AS A COSTUME PIECE IN THE PRODUCTION OF PLAYGOER’S “LIFE WITH FATHER” IN 1977, WORN BY FRANK FEATHERSTONE PLAYING CLARENCE DAY” ***ON 20 DECEMBER, 2011, GAIL INFORMED COLLECTIONS STAFF THAT SHE VOLUNTEERED WITH LETHBRIDGE’S PLAYGOERS BEGINNING IN 1975. SHE HAD “A GENERAL INTEREST IN ASPECTS OF THEATRE PRODUCTION WORK” AND WAS INTRIGUED BY HOW STORIES WERE BROUGHT TO LIFE HOW SHE COULD “GIVE THEM FORM AND SUBSTANCE ON A THEATRE STAGE”. HOLLAND BEGAN WORKING IN COSTUME CONSTRUCTION INITIALLY FOR PLAYGOERS AND, SOME YEARS LATER, WORKED AS A COSTUME DESIGNER FOR LETHBRIDGE MUSICAL THEATRE (LMT) FOR MANY PRODUCTIONS. “DESIGN WORK, ESPECIALLY PERIOD PIECES, OR SETTINGS” SAID HOLLAND IN 2010, “OFTEN REQUIRED A GREAT DEAL OF EXTENSIVE AND DETAILED RESEARCH AS PART OF PREPARATION FOR A PRODUCTION, SO AS TO BRING SOME ASPECTS OF AUTHENTICITY TO WHAT WAS BEING CREATED.” IN 1981, HOLLAND RECEIVED A “LEMMY AWARD” (LETHBRIDGE EMMY) FOR COSTUME WORK SHE DID FOR THE “THE KING AND I” AND IN RECOGNITION OF WORK SHE DID IN PREVIOUS PRODUCTIONS. HOLLAND HERSELF PARTICIPATED ON STAGE IN THE PLAYGOERS PRODUCTION OF “THE ODD COUPLE” FEMALE VERSION IN 1987. THE LAST PRODUCTION WORKED ON BY HOLLAND FOR PLAYGOERS WAS IN 2006’S “A BEDFULL OF FOREIGNERS”. IN 2008 SHE ASSISTED LMT WITH ITS PRODUCTION OF “ANNIE”. FOR HOLLAND, THERE IS A DEEP “CARE AND CONCERN FOR PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION OF CLOTHING.” HAVING CARRIED OUT MUCH RESEARCH HERSELF, “IT SEEMED APPROPRIATE” SHE SAID, “TO PLACE (HER COLLECTION) WHERE [IT] COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE TO OTHERS, FOR REFERENCE OR FOR CONSTRUCTION METHODS THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL TO OTHERS IN CREATING REPRODUCTION.”

Catalogue Number

P19990053001

Acquisition Date

2000-12

Collection

Museum

Less detail