This dramatic evening coat from the late Victorian period looks as if it was made by one of the great French couture houses. In fact, it was bought from the London department store, Peter Robinson, and illustrates how splendid some of the ready-made clothes of this time could be.
A coat of this kind would be worn at night, to a ball, the opera or a very grand dinner. It is made of a rich crimson silk satin patterned with black and with jet trimmings. It has the extremely large, full sleeves fashionable in the mid 1890s.
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