Again accredited to Fashion Museum Bath, I wanted to document here, as part of my research for The Regency Wardrobe collection, this wonderful red (British) military jacket. In an earlier post I have shown two brown dresses made for the Misses Percieval to wear to the Duchess of Richmond's Ball on the eve of the battle of Waterloo. Their brother, Honorable Mr Percieval, was with them. Indeed the men had to leave the Ball that night to go directly to fight. This jacket dates from the same time.
"BATMC 11.29.3
A Uniform coat production date 1815 – 1820. Kings Own Regiment
Worn by Edward or Peter Balby, brothers in the same regiment, a uniform worn on the field
Red with gold buttons. Material wool. Metal technique. Woven applied."
Two holes for fixing epaulettes into.
I imagine this jacket must have some of the most fascinating (or gruesome) stories to tell, of all the pieces in the museum's store. Stories (memories) that are woven, felted and/or embroidered into it, for it having been worn into battle.
As part of The Regency Wardrobe collection I looked long and hard at military and naval jackets of the sort worn by the British. In the end I made a red military jacket but I inverted the fact that the French soldiers would have been wearing blue on the battle field and the British red in part because the British were victorious over the French so the red colour triumphed and also because having made a British naval frockcoat (in blue) I decided that the land based jacket I would make would be French. It was inspired by Napoleon and in paintings of him as a Statesman, rather than as a military leader, he can be seen wearing scarlet. Likewise The Royal Collection holds a cloak of his in this brilliant colour. To learn more about the final piece I made please click here