1830's Frock Coat

[karengillmore]

I am making a frock coat using the Tailors Guide 1830's to 1870's pattern.  The period that I am making for is 1830's to 40's Early Mormon history.   I thought that Tailor's Guide is supposed to be fairly accurate.  Well, a friend tells me that they mostly wore cutaway's in the 1830's and so that is what I should be making to be correct.  I thought that straight cut frock coats were worn for daily wear and cutaways for formal.  Do I have it all mixed up?  Help!

[Jessamyn]

He's just a little out of date. At the dawn of the Regency, frock coats nearly disappeared, with various forms of cutaway coat worn for both formal and informal dress. In the 1820s, the frock coat or redingote (specifically a fitted, skirted coat) began to move in as a cutaway-coat substitute. At first it sometimes is worn open in the front, in line with the cutaway styles. The '30s have plenty of redingotes. As styles became less closely fitted moving into the '40s, it more closely resembles what the midcentury wearer would recognize as a frock coat.

You are right that the cutaway gradually became fossilized as the formal choice.

Early redingotes (1829):
http://regencyfashion.org/pc/pc641.html
http://regencyfashion.org/pc/pc655.html

1830 morning dress, showing both cutaway and frock-type coats:
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/Satorarepo/MorningDresses.jpg

1830 frock coat (left), and military coat (blue), both also identified as morning coats:
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/Satorarepo/morning1830.jpg

1840 cutaway and frock coats, note frocks still worn open:
http://www.fashion-era.com/images/1800_1900_laver/1840_laver_men.jpg

1845 frock coat worn buttoned, beginning to take on the more relaxed shape:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fKdqCtATOSo/TDxODDk13cI/AAAAAAAAG6Y/lT8wWWksXp4/s1600/1845+fashion+plate+of+outdoors+clothing+styles+for+women,+men,+and+girls.jpg