Vintage Paris Couture: The Elegant Evening Coat

 Evening coats weren't just for warmth; they were  fashion statement in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  As elegant and elaborate as an evening dress in their own right and designed to be left on and not consigned to the closet or tossed across a bed at a cocktail party.
I ran across an excellent biography of Jacques Fath after I fell in love with this evening coat.

If I were fortunate enough to own a stunning creation such as this Jacques Fath flared coat I would never want to take it off!

The article points out that Fath served as a launch pad for the careers of many well known designers:

Jacques Fath hired several young new Designers as assistants and apprentices, many continued to form their own Fashion Houses, including Hubert de Givenchy, Guy Laroche, and Valentino Garavan.

He loved experimenting with color and asymmetrical forms.  His creative use of pleats can be seen in this swing coat and two-piece suit.

Jacques Fath suit with detachable pleated chiffon overskirt