Commission: Dashing Asymmetrical Coat

Apologies to all about the month-long absence. I spent most of it running about the country and failing at Nanowrimo. We've also been plagued by various post-related problems, including late parcels, lost parcels and returned parcels. It's all really rather discouraging.

I had vaguely intended to post this coat on Jane Austen Day but we didn't manage to get the photos (or the coat, for that matter) done in time.


The coat is based on an asymmetrical naval coat that fascinated me at Macau Maritime Museum (photos of the original naval coat under the cut). It's part of a commission for a military uniform; there's a waistcoat, breeches and boot-toppers not pictured. It's made from a dark blue wool, lined in bright red. It features bright gold buttons and some rather subtle black ribbon around the buttonholes.

It's most interesting feature is its odd asymmetry of the folded tail on one side and the exposed lining on the other. The two visible pockets are ornamental, but it does have another two in the lining to compensate.

Meant for a man taller and broader than myself, the coat doesn't exactly fit, but I thought passes for a thigh-slapping sort of look, not unakin to Elizabeth Swann in her bright red British uniform in Curse of the Black Pearl.

Photos of the Maritime Museum exhibit and a few more of the coat under the cut.

The exhibit informed me that uniforms of the Portuguese War Fleet were not standardised until 1761, when "a regulation was passed defining the uniforms for the various ranks operating on board."

From the left we have a Sergeant of Sea and War; a Captain of Sea and War and a Soldier.