What jacket goes where?

[OC Richard]

What was the more common type of jacket seen from the late 18th to mid 19th. It's hard for me to really identify a style in the portraits.

During the period you mention, jackets worn with kilts more or less followed the current styles worn with Saxon or English dress.

This is the very period in which Highland Dress was being revived. As Highland Dress was largely perpetuated by the military, there was a complex cross-pollenation between military and civilian styles.

Anyhow pictures are worth 1,000 words.

In the mid-18th century jackets such as these were worn



Here's a fine late-18th century portrait well showing the adoption of the current style jacket (worn by civilians and military) to Highland Dress



Civilian jackets changed around 1800 and the military followed suit. Now jackets were buttoned across the front (or held with hooks & eyes), straight across front and skirts only to the rear. Note the high cutout in front revealing the waistcoat underneath



Here are Highland costumes from 1822 to 1835








The military wore jackets more or less like that, the "coatee", from 1800 to 1855. Here are the 79th Foot in 1852 well showing the coatee. The piper is wearing a doublet, a civlian style adopted first by pipers. (The three men on the left are wearing shell jackets, a popular military style at that time)



Also in the 93rd, in 1854, it was a doublet for pipers, coatee for everyone else



Then in 1855 everone in the kilted regiments was switched to the doublet. The double breasted style and square buttons only lasted one year. The original slashed cuffs were replaced by gauntlet cuffs (Argyll cuffs) somewhat later



By the 1860s we can see, in civilian dress, black doublets of various styles being worn for Evening Dress and grey or brown tweed jackets worn for informal or Day dress.