The Duffle Coat – An Ivy Classic

By Matthew Longcore

In 1989, when I was a high school junior, one of my favorite movies of all time made its debut on the silver screen. Dead Poets Society is set in 1959 at Welton Academy, a fictional boarding school, and was filmed at St. Andrew’s School, an Episcopal boarding school in Delaware. The movie tells the story of an English teacher, played by Robin Williams, who inspires his students through poetry.

Lisa Birnbach, author of The Official Preppy Handbook, was hired by director Peter Weir as a consultant for the vintage clothing worn by the cast. Appropriately, the clothing throughout the movie is classic Ivy – navy blazers, tweeds, grey flannels, repp ties, loafers, and Shetland sweaters.

Perhaps the most memorable item of clothing worn by the young men in Dead Poets Society is the duffle coat. This stylish knee-length hooded wool coat features Buffalo horn toggles for a distinctively collegiate look with a nautical twist.

Dating back to the 19th century, the duffle coat is a true Ivy classic. The precursor to the British duffle coat is the Polish frock coat, first introduced around 1820 and popular in continental Europe by the 1850s. In 1887, John Partridge, a British purveyor of outerwear, began to design and sell an early prototype of the duffle coat. Soon thereafter the British Royal Navy would popularize the duffle coat.

In an article for The Gentleman’s Gazette, Sven Raphael Schneider writes:

“The Royal British Navy was searching for a hard-wearing, sailor-proof coat, and so the British Admiralty commissioned the duffle coat, which turned out to be a great success and was after that worn on military ships around the world.”

In the 20th century, the duffle coat became an Anglo-American menswear classic. My own duffle coat is one of the most cherished items in my wardrobe. It is a Morris Duffle Coat from Gloverall purchased at The Andover Shop. Made in England, the coat is navy with a Black Watch tartan lining.

Here is a selection of classic duffle coats.


Ivy Style editor Matthew Longcore in the Morris Duffle Coat from Gloverall at The Andover Shop.

Brooks Brothers duffle coat worn by Zachary Weiss.

Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel wearing duffle coats in the film Carnal Knowledge.

Duffle coat, Aran sweater, tartan scarf, and khaki pants from Oxford Cloth Button Down.


Welton Academy students wearing duffle coats in the film Dead Poets Society.

Fun Fact:

The film Carnal Knowledge (1971) is set at the Little Ivy campus of Amherst College in the 1940s. In addition to Nicholson and Garfunkel, the film also stars real life preppy Candice Bergen, a graduate of Harvard-Westlake School and the University of Pennsylvania.

28 Comments on "The Duffle Coat – An Ivy Classic"

  1. During War World 2, British officers (like Field Marshall Montgomery) usually worse camel duffle coats over their uniforms in cold weather but some opted for navy. Gloverall’s Original Monty in camel with wooden toggles is now THE classic duffle coat.

    Jack Nicholson appears to be wearing a navy Harrison with removable hood. The Harrison, like the Monty, is oversized so it’s worth checking the size guides before buying. I found the Morris’s horn toggles awkward to fasten but the quality is just as good.

    Gloverall’s duffle coats are great value at full price but look out for bargains in January sales, especially in English online stores.

  2. Love a good duffle coat. Was that your father’s coat? The sleeves are so long it shaves 30 years off your appearance.

  3. Frederick Johnson | December 20, 2024 at 2:09 pm |

    I got my first duffel, a dark green Lodenfrey, from the Yale Coop in 1965 as a junior in high school. I wor4e that coat, Shetland sweaters, Gant OCBD’s and a tweed cap all through mid college when I switched to a button in liner army jacket for late 60’s political reasons.
    My current duffle is about a 20 year old grey/green long duffle from Uncle Ralph with wood and hemp toggles and the original snaps closure large hood (think David Niven and Gregory Peck on board ship at the end of the Guns Of Navarone). Not too long ago I needed to replace one of the wood toggles and hemp tie and, unable to find a replacement, contacted Ralph Lauren with photos of the coat and they promptly sent me a replacement.

  4. Michael Powell | December 20, 2024 at 3:59 pm |

    I do love a Duffle coat; I’ve got two – a vintage navy Gloveral, and a camel Schott NYC. I wear them with jeans. I wear them with suits.

  5. David Knatcal | December 20, 2024 at 4:13 pm |

    I live down the street from Harvard-Westlake. To be precise, Candice Bergen graduated from Westlake School for Girls. Long before Harvard (for boys) and Westlake (for girls) merged in the early 1990s. The combined school I believe is on the former Westlake School for Girls campus after it moved from the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

  6. Being raised on a barrier island in Florida, we seldom had use for Duffle Coats, or coats.

  7. Coincidentally, I fought the blowing snow and cold with my dark green, English-made duffle coat with long woolen schoolboy scarf today for a day playing hooky in Ann Arbor with my wife.

    Kind Regards,

    H-U

  8. I had one of these made (bespoke) a couple of years ago — rope and wood toggles, patch pockets, using Moon’s robust Duffel cloth, which harkens back to the original made by Tibbett for British Royal Navy. At least a couple of tailors in the NYC area can make them based on sketches. Here’s the cloth:

    https://www.moons.co.uk/product/7865-x530/

  9. Don’t have a Duffle—yet—but this post brings back great memories of the beloved film. O Captain! My Captain!

  10. Mr. Mulliner | December 22, 2024 at 2:34 am |

    According to Patricia Mears, the duffel coat was a sine qua non of Ivy in its heyday. It’s not my favorite coat. I prefer the balmacaan. American Trench sells a nice one in Moon gun check.

    • Mr. Mulliner | December 23, 2024 at 4:18 pm |

      Where the duffel coat is concerned, I feel not loathing but the mildest dislike.

      As for ‘Dead Poets Society,’ I can’t loathe it more. Forgive me, but Keating is a well-intentioned fraud. He doesn’t teach; he emotes. His classroom is a cult of personality rather than a site of literary study. (I say this as an English teacher with a BA, an MA, and a PhD in my subject. I’m not bragging–step outside your door to throw a brick in any direction you choose and you’re liable to hit an English PhD in the back of the neck–but rather establishing my bona fides.) You can’t learn to attend closely to poetry that repays close attention by feel alone, much less interpret a good or great poem, then successfully argue the validity of your interpretation.

      Try it. Read John Donne’s masterful ‘Batter my heart, three-person’d God.’
      https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44106/holy-sonnets-batter-my-heart-three-persond-god
      Only a close reading shows how close to blasphemy this holy sonnet is. It’s a sinner’s desperate plea for God’s salvific love, of course, but that longed-for conversion is a two-way street. In order for the poem’s speaker to be loved and thereby saved by God, God’s love must be converted from an ineffectual to an effectual (i.e., a saving) love. And that conversion can only take place if reason, God’s failed ‘viceroy’ in the speaker, succeeds in convincing God that He has been loving the speaker in precisely the wrong way. An astonishingly bold poem by arguably the greatest metaphysical poet, and one that must be studied well to be appreciated properly. Thank God Keating didn’t get his hands on it.

      • Matthew Longcore | December 23, 2024 at 5:44 pm |

        Thank you for your thoughtful commentary. Agree to disagree, regarding Mr. Keating in Dead Poets Society, and the duffle coat.

      • The point of Keating, surely, is not his capabilities as a teacher — it is the way he awakens something in the students.

        • Matthew Longcore | December 26, 2024 at 10:45 am |

          Perfectly stated.

        • Archibald Mulliner | December 26, 2024 at 6:12 pm |

          I have no objection to inspirational teaching. That’s my goal every school day. But inspiring your students is in no way inimical to teaching them the rigorous method by which they can understand and appreciate great literature in and out of the classroom. They should be not only moved but equipped to continue to read well what they learned to read in school once their school days are done.

  11. When I was an Ivy-oriented high schooler in the 50s i had a
    Loden coat with toggles, but no rope. It was undoubtedly copied
    from Duffle coats by enterprising Bavarians who wanted a piece
    of the Ivy/Prep market. I was very warm and water-repellant.

  12. Big fan of the duffel coat. Currently my ten-year-old son wears a navy Gloverall one I acquired for him from O’Connell’s. Great for going to and from Mass this morning here in 0°F Newport, NH.

  13. MacMcConnell | December 22, 2024 at 5:11 pm |

    I still wear my navy Gloverall with leather and horn toggles. Purchased it in fall of 1968.

  14. Its funny how certain pieces of clothing have different connotations depending on the country. Here in the Uk you very rarely see them around and if you do they are worn by boys or girls in private schools. Sometime you spot a teenager wearing one but almost never an adult, at least not in the City or out in the town. In my 25 years working in the City I only saw it worn once over a suit and my colleague was from Connecticut. The funny thing is that the Ivy educated men (Brown) from my wife’s family ,she is from RI, all own one and I even had to bring one from the UK for her brother once, a Gloverall in navy. The most popular casual coat would probably be the Peacoat followed by any type of Barbour and then tweed.

  15. Dead Poets is one of my all time favorites. I’ve had a few Welton inspired Duffle coats over the years but the RL mentioned by Mr Frederick Johnson is my favorite. The lining is a beautiful red tartan. It’s long and oversized like wearing a blanking (that always keeps your feet cold). I did have to take it to the tailor over the summer for some new jute. Next time I’ll try to source from Gloverall.

    The coat gets regular use this time of year walking the dog around the property. I only wear it in the general public on occasion unfortunately for fear of the Harry Potter or Pattington Bear comments. I guess I should be more willing to swim against the stream.

    Caaaarpe!

  16. R. Shackleford | December 24, 2024 at 1:41 am |

    Just rewatched the excellent film “The Holdovers” and Paul Giamatti wears a duffle coat throughout the film along with others.

  17. I bought my navy Gloverall duffle coat because of this film. It’s one of my favorite items in my wardrobe and other people always give me positive feedback on it. I really prefer the wooden toggles, for some reason the non-wooden ones look off to me.

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