rethinking "traditional" dress and the Hire impact

[OC Richard]

Many people don't realise what a craze the British started when they introduced Battle Dress.

Since the mid-19th century soldiers had generally worn thigh-length tunics. When they first introduced Battle Dress in 1937 it was derided as looking like a workman's overalls but during the war the look became so popular that both the US army and the German army copied it (the M44 tunic).

This went hand-in-glove with the huge popularity of the US Army Air Corps' short leather jackets.

The popularity of these short jackets spilled over into civilian clothing when millions of men who had worn them in the military suddenly became civilians. We saw them all the time on TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ8IBQ0MNKs

As sharp-looking as those cropped jackets were, I wouldn't expect there to be a resurrection in this style! We have to keep in mind that the Scottish musicians and the bus-drivers and postal workers and everybody else who wore cropped jackets in the 1950s had worn them in the 1940s in the military.

BTW the Alexander Brothers didn't always appear in such showbizzy outfits, here they are in check tweed, ancient-colours kilts, and brown leather hunting sporrans with brass cantles. (The pompadour hair and narrow ties and lapels suggest this is around 1960)