Gustavian Coat

This frock-coat is made from muted green blue silk and very heavily but delicately embroidered. Its message feels like subtle power. Tiny stitches are used to create cream lines on many of the structural features of the coat. There is so much time taken on details like the double outlining of the pocket flaps and the embroidery on the folds of the back of the coat. The folds being a feature that would only partially reveal themselves as the wearer moved. A person of less statue would likely spend the money for such a coat on larger and more evident design features. This garment’s quiet yet persistent decoration is the luxury itself. Then there is the very artfully done and sizable repair at the top of the kick-pleat where so much fabric converges.

This spot is subject to an enormous amount of stress when the garment is worn. Someone painstakingly grafted pieces of embroidered fabric from a spot where they would not be missed and artfully appliquéd them onto the damaged area. The buttons are used to further camouflage the mend.

Given the stature of this piece, I imagine that the mend was done for the next and lesser known wearer or by the wardrobe mistress of the ballet or opera.