General Asylum

Abraham Lincoln was wearing a Brooks Brothers "Frock Coat"...

100.10.9.128

saintjean

In Reply to: RE: Another from era posted by E-Stat on May 23, 2025 at 08:44:12

Abraham Lincoln was wearing a Brooks Brothers "Frock Coat" when he was killed.

He had arrived at Ford's Theater in a Studebaker carriage.

Brooks Brothers, until not too many years ago, did sell tailored military uniforms, but these days they just sell "Military-Style" outerwear.

Follow Ups:

Interesting bit of history - E-Stat 14:50:06 05/23/25 (4)
Thanks for the historical perspective. Have a couple of their suits, sport coats and dress shirts. I tend to favor brands with a long heritage.

The lineage of a couple of my watches traces back to 1848. My favorite casual shirt brand dates back to 1933.
- here's some more history - beach cruiser 06:04:37 05/25/25 (1)
  brooks brother is in a historical government index about the cost of goods , loaf of bread , stuff like that. a brooks brothers suit use to be worth one once of gold back when the tracking started , and when I was reading about this index about a hundred years later, a suit was still worth an once of gold. I don't shop there so couldn't;t give you up to date info.
  
  Also read they don't sell black suits because Lincolns was wearing one when assassinated in a plot by hard core southern raciests .
  - Hmmm. - E-Stat 06:17:29 05/25/25 (0)
    Also read they don't sell black suits because...
    
    One of my BB suits is black. I guess they eventually got over that.
- JFK was also a member of the "Wearing Brooks Brothers at the End" Club... - saintjean 15:29:54 05/23/25 (1)
  JFK was wearing a grey Brooks Brothers suit, but IIRC from having read about 200 books about the JFK era and assassination, he was wearing a shirt from Turnbull and Asser.
  
  Dunno what Garfield and McKinley were wearing when they were assassinated.
  
  Ronald Reagan, for whatever reason, broke the streak of US Presidents being inaugurated in BB suits. So I assume when he was shot, he was not wearing BB.
  
  BTW, for many years, BB had a "costume department" that custom-made lavish but hard-wearing costumes for Circus Performers, especially Ringling Brothers.
  
  At least a few years ago, members of at least the US Air and Space Forces could custom-order military dress-suit uniforms from the BB factory in Massachusetts.
  
  Somehow not the Army, Navy, or Marines, but back in history, BB would custom-make uniforms for those branches, and the BB uniforms were legendarily expensive, and regarded as a sign of personal wealth far beyond what the pay was, regardless the grade.
  - Pop Quiz: What was the Umbrella Man wearing? nt - Geoffkait 03:41:15 05/24/25 (0)
    Nt

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