Help with this men's smoking jacket - pre 1920s? and detail description?

MagsRags

Administrator
Staff member
VFG Past President
It has clearly been loved and worn - midnight blue cotton velvet, shawl collar, lightly padded shoulders, those intricate frogs, and lots of channel stitched satin trim.
velvetsmokercloser.jpg


First - I picture the wearer in his den or a gentlemen's club circa 1910s, but I don't handle much pre-1920s. Am I about right? And those fancy pocket besoms look vaguely military style to me. The sleeve trim is similarly curvy-arrowed. Is there a term for it?

The appearance of the worn satin trim areas is something I haven't seen before either - it looks like the satiny finish wore off leaving a base fabric that is brownish. Similar to velvet where the pile is worn off, but does that happen with satin? Closeup
IMG_9191.jpeg
 
Last edited:
What a beauty. I had something similar to this.

Antique-Brown-Velvet-Dressing-Gown_grande.jpg


This one was in perfect shape - I called it 1910s - 20s. It took awhile to sell but I did get $595.
I see yours as 1910 - 1915 ish. Love the color and the details!
 
I definitely do see similarities! Yours is gorgeous. Sadly, mine is not perfect. There’s a 2” fabric tear where the shoulder seam meets the back of the neck. Covered by the collar, but nonetheless.
 
I get a sense of 1890s on this one, with the wider tape trim. It could be post 1900 as well, but I just get that "feel" from it. The frogs must be silk wrapped rope, and it is common for the silk wrapping to fray and wear off over time.
 
Silk. Huh. For the tape trim too? That sounds plausible, especially if the silk was a surface treatment that wore down over time, leaving the base fabric visible but intact.

One could carefully use a black fabric pen to cover that brown subfabric but I rather like the dark patina.
 
Back
Top