Tennis Coats & the Provincial Lady

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 Tennis Coats & the Provincial Lady




 

When we recently looked at bridge coats, evening jackets, coatees and opera coats (here, a follow-up post to the original bridge coat scenario), I was not disappointed in the quality of the responses from readers – they poured in to add expertise on all these areas. But it was the Provinical Lady’s tennis coat that really grabbed people.

 

This important matter had a  post way back in the early days of the blog, here,

MIdsummer - tennis but not Wimbledon

And these are the relevant entries from the book:


Diary of a Provincial Lady by EM Delafield 

(1930)

 

March 12th.—Collect major portion of my wardrobe and dispatch to address mentioned in advertisement pages of Time and Tide as prepared to pay Highest Prices for Outworn Garments, cheque by return. Have gloomy foreboding that six penny stamps by return will more adequately represent value of my contribution…

 

March 14th.—Rather inadequate Postal Order arrives, together with white tennis coat trimmed with rabbit, which—says accompanying letter—is returned as being unsaleable. Should like to know why. Toy with idea of writing to Time and Tide’s Editor, enquiring if every advertisement is subjected to personal scrutiny before insertion… (Mem.: See whether tennis coat could be dyed and transformed into evening cloak.)

 

March 21st. - We go to a Sale in order to cheer ourselves up, and I buy yellow linen tennis-frock—£1 9s. 6d.—on strength of newly-arranged overdraft, but subsequently suffer from the conviction that I am taking the bread out of the mouths of Robin and Vicky.

                                      

I said in the other post “I have been searching for that tennis coat for more than ten years…”

Readers entered the arena with enthusiasm.

Blog regular Susanna said: I don't know if this link will work, but here is an Australian tennis-coat.




We agreed it was definitely meant to look good rather than add warmth, and of course no fur. But very elegant. I said “I suppose it is not surprising that Australia provides the best tennis wear.”

 

And then Marty came up wth this one – “could this be the Provincial Lady?” and this was clearly the winner. Fur-trimmed!




As Sovay said, “Robert looks appropriately disgruntled”. (He is the PL’s husband, and quite the grump always.)

Marty then showed us a whole Pinterest page of tennis outfits of the past: wonderful stuff. I like this one:



 

And then I found this photo of those early tennis superstars Suzanne Lenglen (left) and Helen Wills from 1926 – I feel you could definitely use Lenglen’s warm-up wear as an evening cloak… in fact could go straight to the opera after tennis.




This has been so enjoyable – a big thank you to my lovely readers.

Comments

  1. Margot Kinberg27 April 2025 at 13:04

    Oh, so much fun, Moiara! And it really helped me get a sense of what this sort of tennis coat looks like! I love it when the community gets together to share photos and ideas like that!

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    1. Clothes In Books27 April 2025 at 14:37

      I know, it was splendid wasn't it? And most of us learned about a little detailed corner of tennis wear....

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  2. Marty27 April 2025 at 14:40

    The model in your favorite-outfit photo reminds me of Audrey Hepburn, not sure why however.

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  3. Christine27 April 2025 at 16:39

    The shoes the women are wearing are fascinating. Ribbons!

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    1. Clothes In Books28 April 2025 at 06:15

      so much doesn't look practical to our eyes, but probably looked very 'sporty' to theirs - compared with everyday wear

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  4. Anonymous27 April 2025 at 17:09

    Great pictures! I had never heard of tennis coats until these posts. Chrissie

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    1. Clothes In Books28 April 2025 at 06:16

      Fair enough - they don't turn up much in literature outside the Provincial Lady!

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  5. Virginia Guilford28 April 2025 at 01:12

    These photos are marvelous - but I still don't quite understand what a 'tennis coat' was FOR. Is it possible that maybe you might need a coat for warmth when you were traveling from your own house to the house with the tennis courts in your tennis outfit (no changing at the destination, I guess) - and this coat could not be a regular coat but should in some way match your tennis outfit - maybe? But why play tennis in cold weather? And the idea that a coat for sports would be trimmed with fur seems odd - not really casual enough for tennis - but I guess it was OK because you were not going to actually play tennis while wearing the coat. Or maybe it was just that the tennis outfit was seen as too brief to be worn anywhere but on the court while playing and off the court it had to have some addition to make it a complete outfit. Well - whatever the reasoning - this tennis coat definitely makes it clear that clothes from the 1930s were totally different from the clothes of today and that unless we had a lot of help, we would never manage to be decently dressed if we traveled back in time!

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    1. Clothes In Books28 April 2025 at 06:18

      Suzanne Lenglen just liked to look elegant I'm guessing.
      More everyday people - I take your point, but I think they would be playing for a set or two, then sitting around in the lounging chairs while others had a go. A real tennis party, taking it in turns. some kind of warm layer would be needed (certainly in UK) - though these don't all look the most practical...

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    2. Anonymous28 April 2025 at 06:20

      Tennis parties between the wars were social events first and foremost, and one of their characteristics seems to have been that there were always far too many players for the number of courts, so everyone spent a lot of time “sitting out” chatting and watching others play - hence the need for a coat, given the temperature of the average British summer day.

      Sovay

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    3. Anonymous28 April 2025 at 06:24

      I always felt sorry for the PL who was clearly humiliatingly bad at tennis but couldn’t give it up because of the social aspect.

      Sovay

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    4. Clothes In Books28 April 2025 at 09:05

      To my horror when I was in my 20s part of my social group thought tennis was a good idea - there was a court where we worked. I would say 'But I am absolutely terrible at tennis', and they would say encouragingly 'oh everybody says that, it's mostly social, we're all amateurs.' and then at the end of a session they would say 'Goodness, you really are terrible aren't you?' And soon I was allowed to say 'I'll meet you for a drink afterwards...'
      So yes, I had every sympathy with the PL!

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    5. Anonymous28 April 2025 at 09:38

      I used to sprain my ankle a lot - I think in her shoes I’d have made the most of that and attended every tennis party with an ostentatious bandage and stick.

      Sovay

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    6. Clothes In Books28 April 2025 at 13:30

      I never thought of that! Good idea.

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  6. Marty28 April 2025 at 02:30

    This Pinterest page has another photo of Lenglen, who REALLY liked to wear fur! Apparently her calf-length tennis outfit was considered very daring, even indecent, at the time.
    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/56506170338637164/

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    1. Clothes In Books28 April 2025 at 06:19

      that one really does look like an opera coat! Serious fur. She was considered elegant too I think as I say in the previous comment.

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  7. Anonymous28 April 2025 at 06:51

    The yellow linen tennis dress is interesting - the humorist Arthur Marshall wrote a short memoir of his youth in the 1920s, including the social importance of tennis parties, and I’m fairly sure he said white was de rigeur though book isn’t to hand so I can’t check. I know he mentions that it was vital not to play too well or be too keen on winning - getting a reputation for “poaching “ could lead to social exclusion.

    Sovay

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    1. Clothes In Books28 April 2025 at 09:00

      We have so read the same books Sovay! that very piece popped into my head when I was mentioning everyday tennis parties, and I found it, an essay called The Crooked Bat in the collection Girls will be Girls. You are absolutely right:
      "everybody was dressed entirely in white, though ladies were permitted a coloured Suzanne Lenglen bandeau to keep their shingles in position, and the belts that supported the gentlemen's flannels could, at a pinch, be dark blue."
      It is a charming description, very funny.

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    2. Anonymous29 April 2025 at 06:07

      Juvenile tennis parties were still important in the 1950s - a character in J Pullein-Thompson’s “The Radney Riding Club “ (on an extended visit to a friend so without access to her full wardrobe) has to attend one in a blue cotton dress printed with sailing boats IIRC. Fortunately she quickly hooks up with her hostess’s younger brothers and they all hide out together in an orchard for the duration - not an option available to the Provincial Lady!

      Sovay

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    3. Clothes In Books30 April 2025 at 16:40

      Oh great recollection Sovay. Wearing the wrong clothes an agonizing thing at any age, but particularly as a teenager - but that outcome sounds fun.

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  8. Anonymous28 April 2025 at 11:57

    The Provincial Lady had a kitten called Helen Wills. As a friend used to say, "I can't play tennis like you can't play the bassoon."

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    1. Clothes In Books28 April 2025 at 13:34

      I have been re-reading Pride and Prejudice lately, and have concluded that we should all be more like Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her daughter: "If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient. And so would Anne, if her health had allowed her to apply. I am confident that she would have performed delightfully."
      I COULD HAVE been very good at tennis/the bassoon.

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  9. Anonymous28 April 2025 at 15:41

    I did learn to play tennis, and was still incredibly bad it, so could never use that excuse! But I’m sure I could have been very good at it had I been able to wear a glamorous outfit like those in the pictures!

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    1. Clothes In Books30 April 2025 at 16:34

      I so agree with you. We could've sauntered onto the court looking wonderful, then played an elegant game....

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  10. JanW29 April 2025 at 10:22

    Thank you for solving The Great Tennis Coat Mystery so elegantly. Wonderful post and comments.

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    1. Clothes In Books30 April 2025 at 16:34

      sI love the crowd-sourcing nature of this! So much helpful input.

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  11. Susanna Tayler30 April 2025 at 00:37

    Suzanne Lenglen's coat would definitely work as evening wear -I suspect the PL's was somewhat more moth-eaten. I am totally hopeless at tennis though once managed a reasonable game where my opponents were a) heavily pregnant and b) wearing flip-flops.
    But 1920s/30s tennis parties are almost a cliché in books and plays - the young man bounding through the French windows, racquet in hand, probably tripping over a dead body...

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    1. Clothes In Books30 April 2025 at 16:38

      Yes indeed - a vital part of the landscape. Tennis parties important in a Georgette Heyer mystery and one by Ethel Lina White. They must have been very nice social occasions (murder apart) for those who could play well, sigh....

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    2. Anonymous1 May 2025 at 06:54

      Hard work for the conscientious hostess though, arranging the sets and trying to ensure that everyone gets to play and that the good players are suitably handicapped by being paired with rabbits like the PL (to the dismay of both good players and rabbits).

      Sovay

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    3. Clothes In Books1 May 2025 at 08:06

      Yes, you are right, one of those events which look effortless, relaxed and informal, but would require a tremendous amount of work.

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  12. Shay3 May 2025 at 19:21

    Can we really blame Robert for being a grump? To use the vocabulary of my mother's adolescence, the PL is a drip, and being married to her would be a constant irritation.

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    1. Clothes In Books4 May 2025 at 08:33

      I think you could start a fight with that comment! Very controversial.
      I find the book very funny, and I enjoy it, but I am at the same time rather appalled by the nature of their lives and relationships.
      I once wrote a Guardian article which said many book characters would have had their lives improved by TV- ie they could have stayed at home and watched Strictly/Dancing with the stars rather than going out to these dreary evening parties they all hated. (I thought it was harmless fun, but I got hammered btl for my blasphemy). Anyway, I didn't mention Provincial Lady, but I think she should have been exhibit no 1.
      Delafield herself was no PL, and led rather a racy life.

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  13. Daniel Milford-Cottam11 May 2025 at 17:40

    Not all that long ago, I learned that Suzanne Lenglen didn't just get her clothes from Patou, but was actually employed by Patou as the director of his sportswear department! So it's not surprising her outfits were RATHER styling.

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    1. Clothes In Books11 May 2025 at 17:54

      Oh fascinating! There doesn't seem to be a photograph of her where she doesn't look stylish, elegant and relaxed, what an amazing person she must have been.

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