INFLUENCE OF MILITARY CLOTHING

In this specific entry about the 19th century clothing, we will concentrate on the influence of military clothing of the Napoleonic wars in that time's fashion. We can find many cases, in women's and men's fashion, in which the clothes decoration is similar to the military, for example the shape of the stripes, inspired by the style of the light cavalry regiment, they are also called hussars. This style of decoration, based in the traditional Hungarian dress, it characterises for a following of stripes in parallel lines around the chest, known as crow's feet. As for the women's fashion, this decoration was much used in the horse riding clothes because women were becoming more loving of sport, so they were put on the same level as men's clothing to be able to do sport more comfortably. The curved lines around the chest, are a variation of this decoration of parallel bands.

1-. Flannel amazon jacket decorated with a mohair stripe and lined with satin. Messrs Redfern and Co. English, 1885-1886.

Another example where we can find this, are the sleeves from some woman's dresses, the exterior clothing has an open section showing horizontal and diagonal folds reminding us of the front of the lancero's jackets. Apart from the sleeves, this decoration can also be appreciated from the front of the dresses.

2-. Feminine fur lined coat of silk garnished with silk pleated panels, decorated with tassels. Lined with silk. English, around 1820.

In women's clothing, we can also find more and more use for rustic textile, but resistant and practical, as in masculine clothes. These clothes usually have less ornaments, but this is because, as we said earlier on, the woman needs more practical clothes for life. This fact was starting to show how the women were starting a process to defence themselves of the inferiority condition, all these cracks, in the 20th century, won territory with the emerging movements like suffragettes.

3-. Reefer woman's jacket with double box cloth buttons, earth colour thick cloth, decorated with applications of Hungarian stripes. English, 1892 – 1897.

4-. Tweed feminine suit jacket, lined with silk woven and nacre buttons. Germany, 1890 – 1893.

Information from: JOHNSTON, Lucy. La moda del siglo XIX en detalle. Ed. Gustavo Gili. Barcelona 2006.