Dolman

Two garments, one name

The name covers more than one thing. It can mean a shirt made for soldiers, and it can mean an outer jacket whose surface is worked with passementerie, the braid, cord and bead trimmings that give a garment its texture. The term itself came from Turkish and entered Hungarian, and from there it passed into other languages. In Hungary peasants wore the garment from the sixteenth century, and it spread through the country over time. Wealthier peasant households took it up first. People living in the poorest circumstances only had it near the end of the nineteenth century.

Hussar uniform

Hungarian hussars turned the garment into formal military dress. The style travelled into Western armies between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The jacket was cut short and close to the body, and passementerie covered it. Beneath it a man wore an embroidered shirt, tight at the waist, flaring below into a skirt that in the csakora manner came down near the knee. A sash went round the waist, with an ornate sword or saber hanging from it. The whole look came to stand for a romantic idea of soldiering and patriotism. Over the jacket a pelisse might be worn, a similar coat with fur trim, usually carried on the left shoulder with the sleeves left to hang.

Women's outdoor wrap

In the nineteenth century women in the West wore a dolman outdoors, a jacket-like covering in the manner of a mantle. It was fashionable in the 1870s and 1880s. Its cut was unusual: the body and sleeves were made in a single piece, so the shape spread wide like a cape. The front was draped and the back was shaped to suit the bustle, the padded rear of the skirt then in style. Silk velvet, fur and wool were used for winter versions, with ribbons, fringe, beading and tassels applied as trimming. Many that survive were remade from Paisley shawls that had gone out of fashion. In the 1890s a crocheted version, the dolmanette, appeared.

Sleeves and afterlives

A dolman sleeve is one that joins the body at an armhole cut low, sometimes as far down as the waist; when the armhole reaches that far, the blouse has no seam beneath the arm. Women's clothing of the American Civil War years made much use of the shape. It gave the shoulders a sloping line and made the waist look smaller. In the early twenty-first century the term describes a sleeve cut as one piece with the bodice, able to narrow toward the wrist or stay wide. That style became popular from the 1930s and is still known as the batwing sleeve.

How Dolman is kept

Among Hungarian hussars the garment was part of formal dress. A man put on the short, close-cut jacket over an embroidered shirt that was tight to the waist and flared below. A sash sat round his waist, holding an ornate sword or saber, and a pelisse, a fur-trimmed coat of similar cut, was often slung over his left shoulder with the sleeves hanging. Peasants in Hungary wore their own versions from the sixteenth century, wealthier households first. For women in the West in the 1870s and 1880s the dolman was outerwear, worn over the dress for going out.

When and where

There is no day or season attached to it. It belongs to the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries in Hungary and to the 1870s and 1880s in Western women's wardrobes, with winter versions made in silk velvet, fur or wool.

The garment took shape in Hungary and reached Western armies through Hungarian hussars, whose dress became a model for formal military uniform. In Hungary it was worn by peasants as well, spreading across the country from the sixteenth century and appearing among the poorest households only late in the nineteenth century. Women's fashion in the West adopted the name and the shape for outdoor mantles in the 1870s and 1880s.

What Dolman means

For the hussars, the dress carried meaning beyond practicality. The close cut, the heavy trimming and the sword at the waist built a picture of soldiering that people found romantic, and the style came to stand for military patriotism. In the drawing rooms of the 1870s and 1880s the women's dolman answered a different need: it was a way of covering the elaborate dress of the day, cut to suit the bustle, and it made the wearer look fashionable.

Questions people ask about Dolman

See also

CandlemasA Christian feast of candle blessings marking the end of the Christmas seasonCsárdásA Hungarian folk dance that moves from a slow start to a fast finish, kept in Hungary and neighboring regions.Hungarian folk danceA collection of traditional dances kept by Hungarians in Hungary and across the diaspora.Name dayA calendar tradition where people celebrate the feast day of the saint after whom they are named.

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle
• Mantle | UnknownV&A, Article
• Mantle | UnknownV&A, Article

• Dolman on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-10.