Today we continue our winter theme by showing winter coat styles from the 1950s. The last post showed 10 winter coats from the 1960s. We saw a couple of trendy maxi coats, but the rest were traditional suit-like jackets or knee-length coats. Coats in the 1950s were more diverse. I searched my collection of mid-century women’s magazines and found fewer fur coats than I expected to find. Instead, I found a variety of classic coat looks in assorted lengths and silhouettes. Here are 15 of my favorite winter coats taken from the pages of 1950s fashion magazines .
The monochromatic look you see above comes from an ad for Bardley Coats. It was published in the September 1957 edition of Mademoiselle magazine. The suit was described as “crisp heather tweed in blue”. The coat was made of monotone tweed. Each retailed for $69.95.
Note the consistent use of buttons and pockets in both the suit and coat.
This double-breasted coat came from an ad for Forstmann. The ad says that “sugar white” was the trendy color of the season. Kanmorra was the name of the velvety soft wool used to make the coat. The double-breasted coat came with a detachable fur collar in leopard or mink. $135.
Note the raglan sleeve silhouette and placement of the side welt pockets. We will see different versions of this in many of the pictures below.
Here is a coat from the early 1950s. It comes from the pages of Vogue February 1951. Vogue describes it as a Monte Sano coat, but doesn’t offer any further details. The look is complete with matching long gloves and hat. The cut of the coat is an example of a fuller coat with raglan sleeves. Note the cuffed sleeve, oversized stand-up collar, and covered buttons. Stunning.
Here is another coat from an ad in the February 1951 edition of Vogue. The full silhouette is similar to the coat pictured above. This one has no collar and fewer buttons. It looks like the cuffs are made to fold down for a longer sleeve. The ad from Original Modes Company describes the coat as follows.
Tailored by Originala in Stroock’s pure Vicuna, Kashmir, Camel’s Hair or Originala fleece, the rarest and most precious fabrics in the world.
Vogue February 1951
One more from Vogue February 1951, this side view photo shows the graceful drape of the coat. The 3/4 length coat comes from Philip Magone’s. It looks great with a long pencil skirt. Imagine it with cropped leggings in today’s world. Here’s a bit of the text from the ad.
Philip Magone’s Three-quarter coat is completely exciting . . . its fullness is so beautifully controlled.
This is the first fur coat on my list of stylish 1950s winter coats. It was designed by By Mr John for Chambers Sherwin. The expensive fur was made with brown Matara Alaska Fur Seal and sold for $850. Here’s what Mademoiselle told about the silhouette.
The cupped coat, a new shape for a fur coat to be in, eased out almost imperceptibly, then eased in.
The image came from an article in the September 1957 issue of Mademoiselle. Titled “The Great Fur Fabrications”, the article provided details and images of 7 different coats. Some were made with real fur, others used synthetics. I have included the full article at the bottom of this post. Meanwhile, below are 2 more looks from the article.
This fur coat comes from the same Mademoiselle article mentioned above. This time the fur is synthetic. Specifically, the knee-length coat is made with Ollegro Orlon and Dyne. Designed by Sportowne, it sold for $79.95.
The slimness is buttoned down and lashed in with a black patent belt. The fullness is all back, above the belt, in the waist-deep sleeves.
Here we see a double-breasted fur-lined overcoat made with Hockanum wool tweed. This is another use for imitation fur and a smaller price point. The Bonny-brook coat sold for $79.95.
This, my dear Watson is a cape coat from the January 1957 edition of Vogue. The ad simply says that it is from Lilliann and sold for “about One Hundred dollars”.
If you look close, you will see that the strange patent leather trim has a belt buckle in the back.
This look comes from an ad for Christian Dior. According to the ad, the bow-themed coat is made with Angle Premier Fabrics. Dior’s fashion-forward design came from the January 1957 edition of Vogue. Note the significantly different silhouette.
Technically a spring coat, this short jacket from Swansdown is described as a pyramid coat. It comes from the fashion section of Today’s Woman in March of 1952. This soft wool fleece coat also came in red, gold, beige, and white. The shorter silhouette is basically the same as the longer coats from the early 1950s.
This look from 1956 comes from a Mademoiselle article describing casual fashions. The Suede jacket on the left comes from Scully Suedes and sold for $55. The jacket on the right looks like a leather jacket, but it is actually made with Vanetta velveteen. It sold for $30.
These two friends are hanging out in their classic coats at the Landshoff shopping center in Mount Kisco New York (according to the copy in the article). The coat on the left is a storm coat with an alpaca detachable collar. Made by Zero King in Reeves Dacron and cotton poplin, it sold for $65. The synthetic fur-lined coat on the right is by Cloud 9. It sold for $100.
This unconventional coat is made with silk taffeta by Nan Elliot. It was designed to go over the silk print sheath also by Nan Elliot. Both sold for $50 in 1957.
To close it out, here is a mink coat from Cerulean. A mink coat is perhaps the most iconic look of the 1950s. Mink coats were seldom featured in household magazines. Its likely that women who read household magazines wished for a mink coat, but settled for imitation fur. This one came from Vogue. We see a stunning red tierra, a mink coat, and diamond bracelets. We get it honey, you’re rich.
Bonus
The full article from the Mademoiselle September 1957 article titled “The great fur fabrications” is available for download below.
This article was shared yesterday. I’m sharing it here in case you are interested in reading what Good Housekeeping recommended for buying coats. Titled “Buying Guide for Women’s Winter Coats” the article came from the October 1963 edition of Good Housekeeping.
Mid-Century Page 
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