Costuming

[rowyn]

I want this jacket. Except for myself and not just my avatar in Puzzle Pirates.

It's not that esoteric a style; a knee-length coat with back vent and lapels. Yet my search skillz must be weak, because I cannot find it.

Coats of this sort are pretty common in pirate costumes -- for men. I'd be tempted to order one for a man, except that (a) I want it fitted through the waist and a man's would be too loose and (b) I am unimpressed by the quality of clothing sold as "costume", since often it's not suitable even for costume wear. I was in a Halloween shop and looked at a bagged jacket selling for $55 that proved to be made of some ultra-thin, flimsy polyester. It looked right in the picture but the actual product was awful.

I've found some nice old-fashioned coats at regular clothing stores, but nothing of the particular style I want. For that matter, I own a perfectly nice old-fashioned black velvet jacket. But it's not the same.

So ... anyone have any suggestions?

Edit: I should've specified that I don't want to make it myself ; I'm willing to pay maybe as much as a hundred dollars for a good-quality coat -- but the hours it would take to make it myself would soon add up to more than that at the value of my own time. I'm assuming that the same would be equally true of anyone who does sewing, but if you happen to know (or be) someone who will custom-make clothing at that kind of insanely low price then do let me know. :)

Comments

[octantis.livejournal.com]

This is rather a long shot, but try checking military surplus stores. They sometimes stock odd militaria, like old uniforms from various nations, antiques from the world wars, etc.

Chances are, you won't find exactly what you're looking for, especially considering almost everything is going to be fitted for a man. Still, you might find something close and that you might fall in love with, and military stuff tends to be made durable. An old Soviet-era greatcoat might just about fit the bill, and might even be alterable. Try googling for +soviet +greatcoat, you can see some things in an image search, and the word search will turn up Russian surplus stuff that you can see more uniform coats at from various branches, like navy, infantry, tank command, etc. Different branches have different colors and styles. I'm seeing them orderable around a hundred bucks, some less some more.

Check this out. http://www.ruswave.com/catalogue/military/uniform/russian-naval-sailors-coat-222/

Try also doing a search for "greatcoat" on eBay. I saw a women's army thing there, though it was khaki colored. Even if you don't find something right, there's a lot of pictures, maybe you'll be inspired.

[rowyn]

I'll have to give that a try some time; maybe I can get a good Civil War coat that way. :)