Suits - Pre 1920

[AHP91]

My understanding is that it did not vanish from civilian use entirely. Tailoring didn't follow fashion timelines cleanly. I obtained this suit from a very old area in northeastern U.S.

Nothing about the cut, fabric, or construction points to European regional dress. Plain brown wool, sack construction, utilitarian pockets. I have had a couple other collectors agree this is essential an 1890s everyday American sack suit.

 

[VintageEveryday]

My understanding is that it did not vanish from civilian use entirely. Tailoring didn't follow fashion timelines cleanly. I obtained this suit from a very old area in northeastern U.S.

Nothing about the cut, fabric, or construction points to European regional dress. Plain brown wool, sack construction, utilitarian pockets. I have had a couple other collectors agree this is essential an 1890s everyday American sack suit.

This isn't a sack suit. It's a cutaway suit. Basically a morning coat made out of different fabric with matching trousers. (Like the suit from 1886 that I made)

 

[AHP91]

This isn't a sack suit. It's a cutaway suit. Basically a morning coat made out of different fabric with matching trousers. (Like the suit from 1886 that I made)

Cutaway shaping doesn’t automatically make it a morning coat. In the 1890s, sack suits often retained curved or cutaway fronts as they evolved out of frocks. The matching brown trousers and utilitarian construction point to everyday civilian wear rather than formal morning dress.

I think the difficulty here is trying to force a late-19th-century garment into later, more rigid categories. Everyday civilian tailoring in this period was still transitional, so not everything resolves cleanly as “sack” or “cutaway” in the modern sense. Thank you for your input.

 

[VintageEveryday]

Cutaway shaping doesn’t automatically make it a morning coat. In the 1890s, sack suits often retained curved or cutaway fronts as they evolved out of frocks. The matching brown trousers and utilitarian construction point to everyday civilian wear rather than formal morning dress.

I think the difficulty here is trying to force a late-19th-century garment into later, more rigid categories. Everyday civilian tailoring in this period was still transitional, so not everything resolves cleanly as “sack” or “cutaway” in the modern sense. Thank you for your input.

My dude, I'm enough of a tailor to know what I'm talking about. I didn't spend two years deep diving into this subject and two months making my own Cutaway suit to not recognize an antique cutaway suit coat when I see it.

A cutaway suit shares a cut with a morning coat but it is not of the same formality as a morning coat.

A sack coat is basically cut like our modern suits.

A cutaway coat, which is what you have, has a separate upper torso consisting of multiple panels, a fitted back, and rear skirts with tails. A morning coat is a Cutaway coat, but always either black or grey. It's the second most formal daywear by the 1890s (The first being the frock coat, which was already slowly dying out)

These rules were cemented by the 1870s. Although this cut is derived from riding coats dating back to the 1840s. In their earliest incarnation, they were called Newmarket coats. Eventually they evolved, splitting between Cutaway suits (All three pieces match) and morning coats.

I needn't describe morning dress in this group, But cutaway suits are a step above sack suits/lounge suits in formality, but a step below morning dress. A little more "everyday". Which is what makes this one so odd, given the lack of lapels, and the broadfall trousers.

 

[Havotnicus]

Classification aside, how would one have worn such a suit? Did they fasten any of the buttons?
What sort of shirt collar and neckwear would go with this?

 

[GHT]

Classification aside, how would one have worn such a suit? Did they fasten any of the buttons?
What sort of shirt collar and neckwear would go with this?

If not dressed for manual labour, in the early 1900's men generally wore three-piece suits with high, round-collared white shirts, neckties, and derby/bowler hats. Some men, including younger men, donned sack suits all day.
Men who could afford it chose different suits and accessories for morning, daytime, and evening use. Though some men sported beards, the clean-shaven look was popular; so was a fairly bushy mustache that curled up on the ends, an iconic 1900's fashion look.

 

[AHP91]

Classification aside, how would one have worn such a suit? Did they fasten any of the buttons?
What sort of shirt collar and neckwear would go with this?

My educated guess - photos show the top button typically fastened. The suit I obtained was in pretty excellent condition, but it was clear the top button has seen use and had some damage, while all others were pristine.

 

[VintageEveryday]

Classification aside, how would one have worn such a suit? Did they fasten any of the buttons?
What sort of shirt collar and neckwear would go with this?

It would depend on where you're going And what you're doing. Some of these were only designed to button at the top button, or the first two. It really depended on the style of the moment