Presents a series of anecdotes that tell the history and meaning of American uniforms, identifying their cultural significance in terms of how uniforms unite and divide people as well as how they vary throughout the world.

A beautifully tailored history of this fashion staple—at once a garment of tradition, power, and subversion. The Suit unpicks the story of this most familiar garment, from its emergence in western Europe at the end of the seventeenth century to today. Suit-wearing figures such as the Savile Row gentleman and the Wall Street businessman have long embodied ideas of tradition, masculinity, power, and respectability, but the suit has also been used to disrupt concepts of gender and conformity. Adopted and subverted by women, artists, musicians, and social revolutionaries through the decades—from dandies and Sapeurs to the Zoot Suit and Le Smoking—the suit is also a device for challenging the status quo. For all those interested in the history of menswear, this beautifully illustrated book offers new perspectives on this most mundane, and poetic, product of modern culture.

This is a new release of the original 1960 edition.

"Uniform: Clothing and Discipline in the Modern World examines the role uniform plays in public life and private experience. This volume explores the social, political, economic, and cultural significance of various kinds of uniforms to consider how they embody gender, class, sexuality, race, nationality, and belief. From the pageantry of uniformed citizens to the rationalizing of time and labour, this category of dress has enabled distinct forms of social organization, sometimes repressive, sometimes utopian. With thematic sections on the social meaning of uniform in the military, in institutions, and political movements, its use in fashion, in the workplace, and at leisure, a series of case studies consider what sartorial uniformity means to the history of the body and society. Ranging from English public school uniform to sacred dress in the Vatican, from Australian airline uniforms to the garb worn by soldiers in combat, Uniform draws attention to a visual and material practice with the power to regulate or disrupt civil society. Bringing together original research from emerging and established academics, this book is essential reading for students and scholars of fashion, design, art, popular culture, anthropology, cultural history, and sociology, as well as anyone interested in what constitutes a "modern" appearance."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Building on the success of his best-selling The U.S. Army in the West, 1870-1880:Uniforms, Arms, and Equipment, Douglas C. McChristian here presents a two-volume comprehensive account of the evolution of military arms and equipment during the years 1880–1892. The volumes are set against the backdrop of the final decade of the Indian campaigns—a key period of transition in United States military history. In Volume 1, McChristian shows how the Quartermaster Department modified the design and manufacturing of uniforms and other clothing to meet the developing needs of troops in the American West. Drawing on extensive research in public and private collections throughout the United States and lavishly illustrated with more than four hundred color and black-and-white illustrations, these volumes will serve as invaluable references for collectors, curators, and students of militaria and of the frontier era.

"Uniform: Clothing and Discipline in the Modern World examines the role uniform plays in public life and private experience. This volume explores the social, political, economic, and cultural significance of various kinds of uniforms to consider how they embody gender, class, sexuality, race, nationality, and belief. From the pageantry of uniformed citizens to the rationalizing of time and labour, this category of dress has enabled distinct forms of social organization, sometimes repressive, sometimes utopian. With thematic sections on the social meaning of uniform in the military, in institutions, and political movements, its use in fashion, in the workplace, and at leisure, a series of case studies consider what sartorial uniformity means to the history of the body and society. Ranging from English public school uniform to sacred dress in the Vatican, from Australian airline uniforms to the garb worn by soldiers in combat, Uniform draws attention to a visual and material practice with the power to regulate or disrupt civil society. Bringing together original research from emerging and established academics, this book is essential reading for students and scholars of fashion, design, art, popular culture, anthropology, cultural history, and sociology, as well as anyone interested in what constitutes a "modern" appearance."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Through a variety of archival documents, artefacts, illustrations, and references to primary and secondary literature, On the Job explores the changing styles, business practices, and lived experiences of the people who make, sell, and wear service-industry uniforms in the United States. It highlights how the uniform business is distinct from the fashion business, including how manufacturing developed outside of the typical fashion hubs such as New York City; and gives attention to the ways that various types of employers (small business, corporate, government and others) differ in their ambitions and regulations surrounding uniforms. On the Job sheds new light on an understudied yet important field of dress and clothing within everyday life, and is an essential addition to any fashion historian's library, appealing to all those interested in material culture, the service industry, heritage and history.

This rare book contains not only complete specifications but detailed line drawings of virtually every item of uniform and equipment issued. It is a valuable reference for articles used during the 1870s and 1880s, the period of the Indian wars. For much of the nineteenth century, the production of military clothing and equipment was geared to national emergencies. During the Mexican and Civil wars, the hardpressed Quartermaster Department was forced to rely on civilian and, later, European suppliers. A contract system too often resulted in profiteering, inferior goods, and administrative confusion. By 1887 reforms in the system were accompanied by strict specifications for matäriel, which were published by the War Department in 1889 and distributed to fewer than sixty officers in the Quartermaster Department. Never before reprinted, this rare book contains not only complete specifications but detailed line drawings of virtually every item of uniform and equipment issued, from mosquito bars and tent stoves to overalls for mounted men and uniform coat buttons ("the burnishing to be done in the best manner known to the trade"). This valuable reference for articles used by the army during the period of the Indian wars will be of special interest to collectors, historians, archaeologists, curators, and antique dealers.

Men’s Style is a personal and knowledgeable compendium of tasteful advice for the thinking man on how to dress and shop for clothes in a world of conflicting fashion imperatives. This sophisticated and witty book by the popular Globe and Mail columnist combines nuggets of history and the sociology of masculine attire with a practical and supremely useful guide to achieving an elegant and affordable wardrobe for work and play. In chapters and amusing sidebars on shoes, suits, shirts and ties, formal and casual wear, underwear and swimsuits, cufflinks and watches, coats, hats, and scarves, Russell Smith steers a confident course between the hazards of blandness and vulgarity to articulate a philosophy of dress that can take you anywhere. He tells you what the rules are for looking the part at the office, a formal function, or the hippest party, and when you can toss those rules aside. Men’s Style is supplemented throughout with fifty black-and-white illustrations and diagrams by illustrator Edwin Fotheringham.