
- Riding coat
- Enlarge image
Riding coat
- Place of origin:
Great Britain (made)
- Date:
1750-1759 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown
- Materials and Techniques:
Worsted, lined with linen and silk
- Museum number:
T.197-1984
- Gallery location:
In Storage
Women’s riding outfits, known as ‘riding habits’, of the 18th century adapted elements of men’s dress. This jacket of the 1750s is styled after a man’s coat, although it has been modified with a waist seam to fit over stays and a wide petticoat. Another masculine element is the mariner’s cuff, with a scalloped flap running parallel to the length of the sleeve. It was a style first seen on the coats of naval officers, although their uniform was not officially defined until 1748. The mariner’s cuff became a fashionable feature of civilian coats in the 1750s and soon began to appear on women’s riding habits.