Striped fabrics were widely used for both men’s and women’s garments in the last decades of the 18^th Century, fashionable taste having largely moved away from the earlier ornate floral brocaded silks and embroideries in favour of more restrained, classically inspired designs (see Related Items). This man’s coat is made of slightly speckled very dark blue-grey wool woven with stripes of variegated pale green and yellow silk edged in beige, forming a striking contrast; these stripes draw attention to the exaggeratedly curved line of the front opening, sweeping back into a narrow skirt. The close fitting sleeves have small insignificant cuffs, their buttoned openings extended to help ease the arms into the sleeves at their narrowest point. The turned down collar is very high, and the long narrow faceted metal buttons are decorative but not showy. (Vestigial buttonholes indicate that these may have been substituted for more conventionally shaped buttons). A comparison with a coat of the mid 18^th Century, with its full skirt, large cuffs and collarless neckline demonstrates how radically, albeit gradually, the cut of men’s coats evolved over the decades (see Related Item).