This heavily embroidered Regency era costume is a lovely example of a redingote – or quite literally “riding coat.”  The redingote came into fashion in the 18th century, starting out as merely a functional piece of clothing, but eventually evolved into a much more fashionable piece of a woman’s wardrobe.  To see an excellent diagram that illustrates how the silhouette of the redingote changed throughout the early eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century, go here.

This particular redingote was first seen in Vanity Fair in 1998, where it was worn by Natasha Little as Becky Sharp.  It was used again on Georgia King as Lady Amelia Heartwright in the 2013 film Austenland.  It was seen a third time in 2013 on Jenna Louise Coleman as Lydia Bennet in the BBC mini- series Death Comes to Pemberley.  It is here that we are truly able to see the great amount of detail and embroidery that went into the costume, not only on the front, but on the back as well. Jenna Coleman wore the piece again while portraying Queen Victoria in the 2016 production Victoria.