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The Outer Limits Coats
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oats are outerwear garments with sleeves and a center front closure, designed to be worn over other clothes as protection from the elements. The etymology of the word coat traces back to ca. 1300 to the Frankish word kotta for “coarse cloth.” The usage of the word coat is also related to the Medieval coat of armor in its protective function. Universally, the earliest coats—capes and mantles—like other early garments, were made without tools. The first true coat (ankle length with well-shaped sleeves and a collar) can be seen in a frieze on the Apadana Stairway in Persepolis dating from 500-350 BC seen above. During the 11th-century Crusades, Islamic imports of great quality brought back to the West inspired Europeans to introduce the surcoat, replacing the Medieval bliaut, a long, shapeless, loose overgarment. By the 17th century, fitted outerwear coats with buttons (also from Islam), deriving from military and sporting coats and made possible through technical advances in the art of tailoring, became highly fashionable for both men and women. Thereafter, and to this day, variations on the overcoat have proliferated. Included in the catalogue are modern embroidered coats in traditional styles from the Middle East and Mexico; a high-fashion coat by Sorelle Fontana; and an art-to-wear coat by Deborah Brand, which illustrate different adaptations of the overcoat.