“Luxury must be comfortable otherwise it’s not luxury”
Coco Chanel
The Battle of Waterloo may have ended Napoleon’s career and his empire but it created one of fashion’s most enduring designs — the Raglan sleeve. On June 18, 1815, FitzRoy Somerset, the 1st Earl of Raglan was shot in the right arm by a French sniper. The arm had to be amputated and, for the right handed Earl this presented some challenges if he wished to continue his military career; he would have to learn to fight left handed. He and his tailor created a shoulder seam cut on the diagonal and seamed under the arm to the collar. This allowed greater freedom of movement and comfort and became known as the raglan sleeve. Amazingly, he overcame his injury and rose in rank. He was elevated to Lord Raglan and almost forty years later was a commander during the Crimean war at the Battle of Balaklava and the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade, where another Earl would lend his name to another military garment destined to become a fashion staple!
(Wikipedia Commons Images:)
Left: Popular gentleman system for cutting and designing of men’s garments
Right: Portrait of Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan
October 25, 1854 was a cold day and the 7th Earl of Cardigan, the rather flamboyant and stylish James Brudenell, wore his knitted waistcoat into the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade. One of the few survivors, the British celebrated his return and many took to wearing the knitted waistcoat and dubbed it the “cardigan” in his honor. It proved to be popular as it provided warmth, was comfortable and could be worn over or under other garments.
Decades later Coco Chanel created the modern iteration we know today. She reportedly liked the sweater but disliked pulling it over her head and messing up her hair. The ever inventive and iconoclastic Chanel simply cut the waistcoat “cardigan” down the front and, Voilà, a classic was born. Almost anything the chic Chanel did was copied and her version of the cardigan was no exception. She used cardigans, and knitwear, in her collections of the 1920’s, styling them in a way to emphasize comfort and sophistication. And, this would not be the only military garment she would make a chic classic!
(Pinterest images:)
Left: A typical street style photo of a young woman in quintessential 1920s flapper attire
Right: This is Coco Chanel in Deauville, c. 1920s
In 1858 the French government passed the Act of France, defining the official French naval uniform. As with all government decrees everywhere, the specifications were exacting: To be an official French Seaman’s shirt it must have a boatneck, the body must have twenty-one white stripes, 20mm wide, and twenty-one indigo blue stripes each 10mm wide. The 3/4 length sleeves must have fifteen white stripes and 14 or 15 blue stripes.* The shirts were knit in the round, with no seams and no buttons. Their elegant simplicity surely appealed to Chanel when she observed them in Deauville, home to her seaside shop in 1913. She began to wear them herself and her 1917 collection featured the shirts – “la marinière” – and is another example of military garments entering the wardrobes of the public and becoming timeless classics.
*French lore or conceit holds that the stripes represent Napoleon’s twenty-one (naval) victories over the British.
(Wikipedia Commons Image:)
Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel poses in a sailor top in the interwar period [1928]
All these garments – the raglan sleeve, the cardigan sweater and the sailor shirt – began life in the regimented military. From the merely functional to elements of a practical, comfortable and modern Purely Personal wardrobe, they are woven into the fabric of fashion history.
left: Mohair cardigan raglan sleeves
Right: Ribbed wrap wool sweater with raglan sleeves
