Car Coats

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Car Coats

Car coats originated in the United States in the 1950s with the American migration to suburbia. Popular through the 1960s, they were designed to be convenient for driving, at hip to three-quarter length. Car coats were regulation outerwear: woollen, semi-fitted, frequently double-breasted, with various design features such as back-belts and toggles. The same coat is known to 1990s consumers as the stadium, toggle, or mackinaw coat.

—Karen Hovde