Item 2018.146 - Harrods Velvet Smoking Jacket

Identity area

Reference code

2018.146

Title

Harrods Velvet Smoking Jacket

Date(s)

  • 1928 (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

1

Context area

Name of creator

Harrods
(1849-)

Administrative history

Charles Henry Harrod (1799–1885) began his career as a draper in 1824, but it was not until 1849 that the Harrod’s business relocated to London’s Knightsbridge. Harrod’s son, Charles Digby Harrod (1841– 1905) grew the business into a thriving retail operation and, by 1881, Harrods had acquired adjacent buildings and employed a hundred people. In 1889 Charles Harrod sold his interest in the store for
£120,000 via a stock market floatation. The new company was called Harrods Stores Ltd. In 1959, House of Fraser, a British department store holding company, acquired Harrods. In an attempt to appeal to a younger customer accustomed to shopping in unisex boutiques on Carnaby Street and the King’s Road, Harrods opened Way In on the fourth floor in 1967. It was redesigned and renamed the Fashion Lab department in 2013. The menswear department is currently situated in the basement of the store. In 1985, the Fayed brothers acquired House of Fraser for £615 million, which included Harrods. In 1994 Harrods was moved out of the House of Fraser Group and remained in the Fayed family’s ownership, while House of Fraser was listed on the London Stock Exchange. In May 2010, Harrods was sold to Qatar Holdings, the Qatari state’s sovereign wealth fund.
Source: The Independent.

Repository

Westminster Menswear Archive

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Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

A 1928 made-to-measure double-breasted smoking jacket in midnight blue velvet, featuring wide peaked black silk satin lapels adjacent to a velvet collar in the same midnight blue. The jacket fastens with four black silk-covered buttons and has four smaller matching buttons on each cuff, with functional buttonholes. Fully lined in black silk, the jacket has a very shallow hem and cream silk sleeve lining. All seams, buttonholes, and pockets are hand-finished. It includes two front jetted pockets with facings but no flaps, and no breast pocket. The interior features two open jetted breast pockets. The jacket has no back vent.
Country of Design: England
Country of Manufacture: England

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      Physical characteristics and technical requirements

      Material: Velvet, silk
      Colour/Print: Midnight Blue
      Details: double breasted, silk covered buttons, peaked lapel, hand sewn
      Label: Internal pocket: Harrods, Ltd. Tailors & Breeches Makers. London, S.W. No. 276. Date: 12/10/1928. 126-02 M. Name: Rev. J.O. Walker.

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      Note

      Invisible Men exhibition label:

      VELVET SMOKING JACKET
      Harrods
      1928

      Smoking jackets originate from the mid-1800s as a loose-fitting comfortable garment worn at home, often put on after dinner. They were usually made out of luxurious fabrics such as velvet. This made-to-measure smoking jacket is made of midnight blue velvet with silk lapels and a silk lining.

      Silk
      Archive no. 2018.146

      Note

      From Inside the Westminster Menswear Archive:

      VELVET SMOKING JACKET
      Harrods Ltd
      1928
      This hand-tailored smoking jacket was made-to-measure for the Reverend J.C. Walker in October 1928 by the London department store Harrods. The smoking jacket has its origins in the mid-nineteenth century as a loose-fitting, comfortable garment worn by men at home in the evening. Typically, opulent fabrics such as velvet were employed in their construction. This jacket is made of midnight blue velvet and has black silk peak lapels and a velvet collar, two front jetted pockets, but no breast pocket. All seams, including the buttonholes and pockets, are hand-finished and the cuff buttonholes are functional. All the buttons are covered in the same black silk as the lapels, it is fully lined in black silk and the sleeves are lined in cream silk.
      Silk
      Archive no. 2018.146

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