Up Close: Link-Front Coats

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A link-front coat or jacket is one that is closed by two connected buttons similar to a cufflink.

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The original version appears to be early morning coats that used a stand-alone pair of linked buttons which were inserted into buttonholes on either side of the coat’s front. Over time, it became more common for the buttons to be integrated into the jacket: one button was sewn to the outside of the jacket as normal while a second with a longer shank was sewn to the inside of the jacket behind the first. This configuration allowed the jacket to be buttoned by the usual method or by the linked method, the latter providing extra room for the inevitable post-dinner expansion of the wearer’s waistline.

Link Button Upclose
Link Button Upclose
Early morning coat with linked front (UK).
Early morning coat with linked front (UK).

Early dinner jackets were first worn open (and in fact were often constructed without buttons) but when they began to be worn closed in the 1910s it was often with a link button. A 1913 Vanity Fair article describing the greater latitude allowed in dinner clothes of the time mentions a particularly ornate version of the closure: “One is not confined to the one button single breasted garment. We shall see it with two buttons and also those which are caught with the jeweled link.”

Ministers Gazette of Fashion (UK), 1934
Ministers Gazette of Fashion (UK), 1934
Future British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden (with Rita Hayworth) in 1947
Future British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden (with Rita Hayworth) in 1947

Link-front dinner jackets pretty much disappeared from US fashion and etiquette guides by World War Two. However, they have remained a going concern in the UK and can still be obtained from a number of high-end menswear shops today.

Reader Comments

  1. I have a link-front morning coat from Ede & Ravenscroft that I wore at my wedding—using the link. Since then, I’ve realized it looks much better buttoned in the usual way (it appears to fit better) and I’d go with that if only I get the chance to wear it again.

  2. My dinner jacket is a link closure, and I think it looks better – more classic, and more interesting at the same time. Plus, if your jacket fits well anyway, it shouldn’t appear to affect the fit, and might even make sitting easier.

    Having said that, Anthony Eden has made a better call than anything sartorial – and he does look sharp – by getting himself photographed with Rita Hayworth. Congratulations, Mr. Eden.

  3. Curiously enough, when I was looking for a dinner suit of my own here in Finland, I noticed that most jackets had the link closure.

    I wear it both ways, depending on my mood at the moment.

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