page_title: Frock coat
section_title: Military uniforms
hierarchical_section_title: Frock coat / Modern use / Military uniforms
caption_attribution_description: English: British Army General Sir Peter Wall in Germany
context_page_description: A frock coat is a formal man's coat characterised by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. It is a fitted, long-sleeved coat with a centre vent at the back and some features unusual in post-Victorian dress. These include the reverse collar and lapels, where the outer edge of the lapel is often cut from a separate piece of cloth from the main body and also a high degree of waist suppression around the waistcoat, where the coat's diameter round the waist is less than round the chest. This is achieved by a high horizontal waist seam with side bodies, which are extra panels of fabric above the waist used to pull in the naturally cylindrical drape. As was usual with all coats in the 19th century, shoulder padding was rare or minimal.
  In the Age of Revolution around the end of the 18th century, men abandoned the justaucorps with tricorne hats for the directoire style: dress coat with breeches or increasingly pantaloons, and top hats. However, by the 1820s, the frock coat was introduced along with full-length trousers, perhaps inspired by the then casual country leisure wear frock.
context_section_description: The cut of a frock coat with a waist seam flatters a man's figure, as opposed to a sack coat and such frock coats remained part of some 21st-century military uniforms. They can either be single-breasted, as in some army uniforms, or double-breasted as in both army and navy uniforms. An example of the latter is seen in the modern gala dress of officers in the Spanish Navy. The British Army currently retains the frock coat for ceremonial wear by senior officers of Lieutenant-General rank and above, by officers of the Household Division, by some bandmasters and by holders of certain Royal appointments.
caption: A British Army general wearing a frock coat in 2012.
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