Frock coat

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the nineteenth century, the frock coat became a symbol of British masculinity and even empire. While simpler and less structured than the eighteenth century dress coat, the frock developed into a full-skirted coat mirroring the ideal female silhouette. Although the frock coat's popularity waned after World War I, it was later appropriated by subcultural groups like goths and new romantics as part of a historicist wardrobe.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art