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Title
Date(s)
- 1994 (Creation)
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Established in 1865 at 13 Conduit Street by German tailor Jacob Dege (1838–1919), the company was originally known as J. Dege & Sons. In 1880, Jacob Dege’s son Arthur met William Skinner Jr, whose family had a tailoring business at 57 Jermyn Street, and the two formed Arthur Dege & Skinner on Grafton Street in 1900. William Skinner died in 1912, and Arthur Dege & Skinner closed in 1914, after which Arthur joined his father in J. Dege & Sons. Jacob Dege left the business in 1917 and J. Dege & Sons became a private limited company. In 1939, J. Dege & Sons Ltd acquired Wilkinson & Son, who were robe makers by appointment to King George VI. The company expanded further by opening tailoring shops in Aldershot and Catterick Camp in 1941. The Conduit Street business was bombed in 1941 and relocated between 10 Clifford Street and Conduit Street over the next ten years. The Skinner family acquired
J. Dege & Sons in 1947, and founder Jacob Dege’s grandson John returned to the firm. The company is still owned by the Skinner family. In 1967, the company acquired military tailors Rogers, John Jones, tripling the company’s size. In 1973 the company created the First Queen’s Dragoon Guards uniform that Captain Mark Philips wore when he married Princess Anne. In 1989 the company moved to 10 Savile Row, and in 2000 the company name was changed from
J. Dege & Sons Ltd to Dege & Skinner. The company has royal warrants from the King of Bahrain and the Sultan of Oman, and held one from Queen Elizabeth II. Dege & Skinner made the British Army Blues and Royals regimental frock coat worn by Prince Harry when he married Meghan Markle in 2018.
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Country of Design: United Kingdom.
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Note
The Life Guards and Blues & Royals form the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. This coat was made by Dege & Skinner in 1994 as part of a contract they had with the Ministry of Defence. This particular uniform was worn by a Major, the medal ribbons show he had seen service in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia.
In 2018 Dege & Skinner made the Blues and Royals frockcoats for Prince Harry and his four page boys for his wedding to Meghan Markle. It was a very similar uniform but with slightly different embellishment on the sleeves, collar and back.
The sleeves on these frockcoats take one person, one week to make, by hand, involving an intricate design.
Note
Invisible Men exhibition label:
LIFE GUARDS OFFICER’S FROCKCOAT
Dege & Sons Ltd
1994
Worn by a Major who has seen service in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia, this frockcoat is made from blue doeskin, is single-breasted in style with a stand-up collar, complete with figured braiding on each sleeve.
The sleeves on a frockcoat take one person, one week to make, by hand, involving an intricate design. In 2018 Dege & Skinner made a very similar frockcoat for Prince Harry for his wedding to Meghan Markle.
Wool
Archive no. 2017.134
Note
From Inside the Westminster Menswear Archive:
OFFICER’S FROCK COAT
Dege
1994
This officer’s frock coat was made on Savile Row by military tailors Dege and belonged to a Major in the Life Guards, one of two regiments in the Household Cavalry, alongside the Blues and Royals. The medal ribbons on the left chest indicate that he served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia. The sleeves feature decorative figuring sewn on the surface in a regimental design using black Russia braid and take one person a week to complete. Either side of the coat’s front, are six loops of ¾ inch black braid, each with two black-covered olivets, which is a type of fastening toggle. Dege & Skinner created a similar frockcoat for Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle in 2018. This style of frockcoat would cost around £6,500 today.
Wool
Archive no. 2017.134