(my bolding)
Because 633squadron specifically says Lab Coats are different from the coat mentioned in the OP.
That’s the same mistake I had made about it.
But he’s wearing a lab coat on Donovan’s Brain - high collar and stylized buttons on the next picture yeah - but its still a lab coat too – that’s what it is -
& and anyway why would we take 633squadron as the last word - I am not following that part… no they don’t have high collars but lab coats are required today for many labs (not just dentists et al.) - true the point about the high collar is well taken but some styles besides the collar are exactly what the guy on Donovan’s Brain is wearing an the only added difference on the next picture is the buttons.
When I see that outfit I always picture those old reflector mirror things worn on the head.
Q: Do soldiers still wear those sandals with straps winding up the legs like you see in illustrations of Roman soldiers?
A: Yes, soldiers still cover their feet with footgear.
It isn’t a coat, it’s a form of shirt. You would wear it over an undershirt.
It is my understanding that the high collar and buttons are what make the difference. I’ll bow out of further discussion.
Several catalogs list it as a “round neck tunic”.
I don’t know how popular they were but it seems like there are a lot of high collar lab coats and a lot of lab coats where the front crosses over and buttons on the side. There are a few that do both. Here’s a stock photo of a chemist wearing one and here’s some for sale
It looks similar to a surgeon’s smock of the pre-World War II era.
When you visited a doctor for a check-up, he would wear a suit and tie, with a lab coat worn over/instead of the suit coat. When he had to Perform a Procedure, he would put on the more elaborate outfit. It was white, so you could be certain that it was clean and sterile. It buttoned on the side, so that germ-bearing seams and closures would be kept away from the patient. Although that breast pocket on the “Donovan’s Brain” cover would sort of defeat that purpose.
Dentists might go straight from exam to drilling, so it would make sense for them to wear it routinely.
Pharmacists would wear it to show their customers that they were professionals who worked in a clean laboratory.
I am pretty sure I have seen the outfit in movies dating from the 1920s to the 1950s.
I found a reference describing this type of suit as an “ice cream suit” but Google doesn’t think much of the term. No pictures in this cite, but the verbal description is a pretty close match. (link)
I easily recognize this type of garment as being standard garb for the 1940’s-era evil scientist from central casting, but the context of the article suggests that it was worn as late as the early 1970’s. No way in hell I’d eat anything served by a waiter dressed in one of those, at any rate.
Of course, in movies the scientist characters were often medical doctors as well, as in Frankenstein.
My father is a retired MD; IIRC in the office or when making rounds he would wear a white lab coat with his name on it, but it was the ‘overcoat/lapel’ style of lab smock, not the kind like in the OP’s link. Including residency and internship, he was in practice from 1948 to 1991.
Well honestly I believe that this is the more accurate equivalent analogy of the discussion until now:
Q : Do people still wear those sandals like this guy in this picture and this guy wearing a slightly different pair?
A. Yes. But the straps don’t go all the way up the sides & the treads aren’t as round.
But if the majority of folks want to define the question as:
"When were these stylized lab coats with high collars worn" that is cool no sweat. If they want to say the difference is the high collar cool again, point of fact lab coats including to spell it out for you High Collar lab Coats are still used and sold today.
I cannot believe the level of snippiness this engendered (by me too)
Maybe in a restaurant specializing in sweetmeats.
“It’s Doctor Evil. I didn’t spend seven years in Evil medical school to be called mister.”
I’m reminded right away of Dr. Oro Myicin from the Bugs Bunny cartoon Hare Brush. (~ the 2:00 mark). The psychiatrist that convinced Bugs he’s really Elmer Fudd. “I am Elmer J Fudd. Millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht.”
I knew several pharmacists in the 1970s that wore it every day. It was the standard uniform for male pharmacists at that particular pharmacy. Female pharmacists wore a white top with white pants.
It was a tunic, not a coat.
It’s pretty clear that the OP was specifically referring to the high-collar style, since he described it as “kind of straight jacket looking” and mentioned the buttons on the side. And why would somebody have posted a topic in GQ to ask if people still wear lab coats?
As for snippiness, you started it, sir.
Do you have a point to make about the last post or was this a drive by snark?
Heh, cool…that’s the rocketeer jacket of lab coats.
In all my years as a scientist and engineer, I’ve almost never had to wear a White Coat. If you don’t count clean room coats needed to keep hairs and lint off ICs and the like, I think I’ve worn them less than a full week, added together.
And, of course, I never get the trendy high-collar ones.
The “mad scientist” Doctor Mel wears a high-collared, double-breasted tunic in Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!
I suspect, but do not know, that this would be worn by a scientist working with especially dangerous substances (possibly even radioactive substances before people appreciated the danger and began wearing body suits). The high collar, double breast, and oversize gloves provide more protection than an ordinary lab coat.