A steampunk coat is the largest piece of an outfit, so it decides the outline and much of the colour before anyone notices the goggles or the watch chain. The steampunk jacket or coat most people picture is long and fitted, with a row of brass buttons, and that is a good place to start. But there are many kinds, each with its own history and its own character: the gentleman's frock coat, the tailcoat cut away at the front, the coachman's caped overcoat, the horseman's duster, the hussar's braided jacket and the short bolero that shows off a corset.
This guide takes each kind in turn, for men and women, then the fabrics, buttons and trimmings, how to choose a coat for the weather, and how to turn an ordinary coat into a steampunk one. Our guide to men's steampunk outfits introduces the steampunk mens coat as part of a whole outfit, and our guide to women's steampunk outfits does the same for the steampunk ladies jacket. This one goes further into the coats themselves.
The frock coat
The frock coat is the classic steampunk coat, and the one that reads as Victorian from furthest away. It came in during the 1820s, together with full-length trousers, and it was the standard formal day coat of the Victorian gentleman for most of the century.
What makes a frock coat
A frock coat is a fitted coat with a skirt, the part below the waist, cut all the way round so that it hangs evenly to just above the knee. What sets it apart from an ordinary long coat is a high horizontal seam at the waist, with shaped side panels above it, which is what gives it the nipped-in waist and the flare below. At the back there is a single vent up the middle. Real Victorian frock coats had no side pockets, and their buttons were covered in cloth. The standard colour was solid black, with charcoal grey an accepted but less common choice, and the standard fabric was fine wool.
In the 1860s the business frock coat was usually single-breasted and knee length, worn with heavy padding for a firm, fitted shape. A double-breasted frock coat with peaked lapels, the pointed kind that turn upwards, was sometimes called a Prince Albert, after Queen Victoria's husband. Armies wore frock coats too: the first military ones were issued late in the Napoleonic Wars. The frock coat lasted long after Victoria. Heads of government wore frock coats to sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, and only from the 1920s was it steadily replaced for formal day wear.
The frock coat in steampunk
Steampunk takes liberties with it. Brass or metal buttons are far more common than cloth ones, because they suit the machine age, and brown, bottle green, burgundy and grey all appear beside black. For a man, a black or charcoal frock coat over a brocade waistcoat makes the gentleman inventor at once. For a woman, a frock coat cut close to the waist and flaring out over a long skirt, or a shorter one over breeches, suits a lady adventurer or an airship captain.
When you look at a long coat, look for the waist seam. A modern overcoat that hangs straight from the shoulders will never look quite like a frock coat, however good its buttons; one with a seam and a flare at the waist will look right even in a plain fabric.
The tailcoat and the cutaway
A tailcoat is a coat whose front is cut away at the waist, leaving a long section behind called the tails. It began centuries ago as a coat cut for riding, with a front that kept out of the way in the saddle, and it then became formal dress. There are two main kinds, and the difference between them is in the shape of the front.
The dress coat
The dress coat has its front cut straight across, square, at the waist. In the Regency years men wore it by day as well as by night, but since the 1850s it has been worn only in the evening, as part of the outfit called white tie, with a stiff white shirt with a wing collar. It is also called a swallow-tail or a claw-hammer coat. In steampunk it suits a ringmaster, an aristocrat, a conductor or an airship officer at a ball.
The cutaway, or morning coat
The morning coat curves away gradually from the front buttons towards the tails, rather than being cut square, and this is why it is often called a cutaway. It is a day coat. In the 1860s the slightly cutaway morning coat was worn for formal day occasions, and from the 1880s, increasingly into the Edwardian years, it began to take the frock coat's place as formal day dress. In steampunk the cutaway suits a gentleman scientist, a detective or a groom, and it shows off a good waistcoat better than any other coat, because the waistcoat is on view below the front button.
Tailcoats for women
A woman's version of the tailcoat, fitted to the waist and falling to tails behind, gives a smart, slightly military line over a corset or a waistcoat. With a short skirt over boots, or with breeches, it suits a lady aviator or a ringmistress. A riding jacket cut longer at the back than the front gives much the same effect with less fabric.
Greatcoats, long dusters and military coats
These are the coats for weather, for travel and for a character who works outdoors. Our guide to men's outfits explains the greatcoat and the Inverness cape; here are the others, for anyone.
The Ulster
The Ulster is a Victorian working overcoat for the daytime, with sleeves and a cape over the shoulders that reaches just past the elbows, which leaves the forearms free. Coachmen often wore it, and it was made in hard-wearing fabrics such as tweed. A version for women appeared in the early 1870s, and the coat began to lose its cape in the 1890s. Arthur Conan Doyle mentions the Ulster in several Sherlock Holmes stories; in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, Holmes and Watson put on their Ulsters and wrap cravats round their throats before going out on a cold night. For a steampunk detective or a traveller, it is the coat.
The Chesterfield
The Chesterfield is a formal, dark overcoat reaching to the knee, with a velvet collar. It is named after George Stanhope, the 6th Earl of Chesterfield, appeared in Britain around the 1840s, and in the second half of the century gradually took over from the long overcoat worn over a frock coat. Overcoats in the 1860s had wide lapels and deep cuffs, and many had collars of contrasting velvet. For a steampunk gentleman, a dark overcoat with a velvet collar is an easy way to look finished.
The long duster
A duster is a long, light coat first worn by American horsemen, in pale canvas or linen, slit up the back to the hip so it could be worn in the saddle; riding dusters sometimes had straps to hold the flaps against the legs. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries both men and women wore dusters to keep the dirt of the road off their clothes when riding in open motor cars. Later dusters were made of oilcloth and waxed cotton for rain, and leather ones are worn by motorcyclists today. So the duster suits not only a frontier gunslinger but a steampunk motorist, an aviator or a sky pirate.
Military coats
Military coats give steampunk its airship officers and captains. Two details do most of the work. The first is frogging: an ornamental fastening of braid or cord with a decorative knot on one side and a loop on the other. Frogs were an important feature of military uniforms from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, borrowed by Western European armies from the Hungarian hussars, the light cavalry, and from uniforms they spread to civilian overcoats and jackets for both men and women. The second is the pelisse, the short jacket that hussars wore hanging loose over the left shoulder, said to guard against sword cuts, its front covered with rows of braided fastenings and buttons. On British officers the braid was usually gold or silver lace.
A military-style coat with rows of braid across the chest, a high collar and brass buttons is one of the most striking steampunk coats there is. Some coats have raglan sleeves, which run in one piece up to the collar with a diagonal seam from the underarm to the collarbone. They are named after Lord Raglan, the British general, who is said to have worn a coat cut this way after losing his arm at the Battle of Waterloo.
Short jackets and boleros
A long coat hides the waist. A short jacket shows it, which is why short jackets are so popular over corsets and waistcoats, and why they are easier to wear on a warm day.
The spencer
The spencer began as a man's garment: a woollen tailcoat with the tails left off, short, double-breasted and ending at the waist. It is named after George Spencer, the 2nd Earl Spencer, who lived from 1758 to 1834 and is said to have had a tailcoat altered after its tails were burned. From the 1790s it became popular women's fashion too, through the Regency years, and the name carried on well into the nineteenth century for any short jacket. A short, fitted jacket ending at the waist is still one of the best things to wear over a steampunk corset.
The Zouave jacket
The Zouave jacket is a short, open-fronted jacket with long sleeves, modelled on the uniform of the Zouaves, the Algerian infantry of the French army. Colourful jackets of this kind, trimmed with braid, were fashionable for women from the late 1850s well into the 1860s, especially in America, worn over a blouse with a skirt and a belt at the natural waist. One example from 1864 is waist length and cut away at the front. With its braid and military history, it is a ready-made steampunk jacket.
The bolero
A bolero is a short, tailored jacket, generally worn open at the front, inspired by the jacket of the Spanish matador. Its sides meet at only one point, so it frames the blouse and the corset beneath rather than covering them. In steampunk a bolero in velvet, brocade or leather, with puffed or long fitted sleeves, suits a lady inventor or a performer.
Short jackets for men
Men have short options too. In the 1860s the loosely fitted sack coat, reaching to the middle of the thigh, gradually took over from the frock coat for less formal business, and a lounge jacket with matching trousers and waistcoat became acceptable in public in the 1870s. A tweed jacket of that kind suits an explorer or an engineer. A short, close-fitting jacket with a double row of buttons, in the manner of the spencer, suits an airship officer, and a leather jacket worn over a waistcoat suits an aviator or a sky pirate.
Fabrics, buttons and trimmings
Fabrics
Wool is the fabric of the Victorian coat. Broadcloth, a dense, plain-woven wool that is milled after weaving so that its fibres felt together, was a classic coat cloth; because the fibres are bound so closely, it could be cut without needing a hem. Fine wool was the standard for frock coats, and the finest were made from vicuña, the wool of a small wild relative of the llama from the Andes. Tweed suits a traveller or a working character. Canvas and linen suit a duster or a summer coat, and waxed cotton a coat for the rain. Velvet suits a collar, a bolero or an evening coat, and brocade a woman's short jacket. Leather is the most steampunk of all, and the heaviest and warmest.
Buttons
Buttons change a coat more than anything else of their size. Brass and gilt-metal buttons, of the kind on the V&A's eighteenth-century riding waistcoat, make any coat look military or like equipment. Black or covered buttons keep a frock coat quietly Victorian. A double row of brass buttons on a short jacket or a greatcoat suits an airship officer. Buttons with an anchor, a crest or a cog on them tell people something about the character wearing them.
Trimmings
Braid, frogging, piping along the edges, a velvet collar, contrasting cuffs and shoulder boards called epaulettes all add a military or formal touch. Leather straps and buckles at the cuffs or across the chest make a coat look like working kit. Choose two or three of these at most. A coat with braid, epaulettes, buckles and gears all at once starts to look like a costume rather than a garment.
Linings
A lining in a contrasting colour, such as burgundy in a black coat or bottle green in a brown one, shows when the coat swings open or the tails move, and it is one of the cheapest ways to make a coat look special.
Choosing for weather and comfort
Most steampunk gatherings in Britain are at least partly outdoors, and British weather can change from cold rain to warm sunshine in a single afternoon. For when and where people gather, see our guide to UK events.
Cold
A wool frock coat, a greatcoat, an Ulster or a Chesterfield over a waistcoat is warm enough for most British winter days. A cape over the shoulders, as on the Ulster and the Inverness, keeps the rain off the top of the arms. Gloves and a scarf tied as a cravat do the rest.
Rain
Waxed cotton and oilcloth were made for rain. Wool copes with a shower but grows heavy in a downpour. Leather needs looking after once it has been soaked. If rain is forecast, a duster or a waxed travelling coat is the practical choice, and a hat with a brim helps more than any coat.
Heat
A heavy coat on a warm afternoon is hard work. Plan every outfit so that it still looks complete with the coat off, which usually means a good waistcoat or corset underneath. A linen or cotton duster, a short jacket or a bolero is far cooler than a wool frock coat, and natural fabrics breathe better than synthetics.
Comfort
Try a coat on over the layers you will wear beneath it. A coat that fits over a shirt may not close over a waistcoat, and one that fits over a blouse may not close over a corset, so buying a size up is often wise. Raise your arms, sit down and climb a few stairs in it. A coat to the ankle looks splendid on level ground and is a trial on steps, on muddy grass and in a crowd. Inside pockets matter too, because a coat is the best place to keep a phone, money and keys out of sight.
Altering an ordinary coat
Many of the best steampunk coats began as ordinary coats from a wardrobe or a charity shop. Our guide to a steampunk costume on a budget explains where to look; these are the changes that turn what you find into a steampunk coat.
Change the buttons
Swapping plastic buttons for brass or metal ones is the quickest improvement of all. To turn a single-breasted coat into a military one, sew a second row of buttons on the other side of the front, purely for show.
Add braid or frogging
Rows of braid or cord sewn across the chest, with a loop at one end and a knot or button at the other, turn a plain dark jacket into a hussar's or an airship officer's. Braid can be stitched along the cuffs, the collar and the front edges as well.
Change the collar
A velvet collar stitched over the existing one gives an overcoat the look of a Chesterfield. A stand-up collar made from a strip of stiffened fabric gives a military look.
Add a cape
A short cape cut from a second coat or a length of wool and fixed under the collar turns a long overcoat into something like an Ulster or an Inverness. Felted wool such as broadcloth frays very little, so a cape can be cut cleanly and finished with little sewing.
Cut it away
A long coat can become a tailcoat or a cutaway by cutting the front away below the waist, in a straight line or a curve, and hemming or binding the new edge. Mark the line with tailor's chalk and try it on before you cut, because a cut cannot be undone. Practise on a cheap coat first.
Shape the waist
A coat that hangs straight can be brought in at the waist with a wide belt worn over it, or with a strap and buckle sewn across the back. This gives a little of the frock coat's line without any tailoring.
Age it
A new canvas duster can be made to look travelled by soaking it in strong tea and drying it in the sun. A little dark brown paint rubbed into the seams of a leather coat, then wiped back, makes it look handled for years. Test anything on an inside seam first.
Work with a sharp blade or scissors on a cutting board, cut away from your body, and paint in a room with the windows open. For the hat that tops off the coat, see our guide to steampunk hats and top hats, and for the real coats that steampunk borrowed from, our guide to Victorian men's fashion. For a coat to wear on a special day, our guide to a steampunk wedding has ideas for the groom.
