DRESSED TO KILL: British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions, 1748-1857

by Amy Miller

Fashion and uniform have influenced each other since the naval uniform, as we know it, came into use in 1748, around the same time as the fashion designer or "marchand des modes" was emerging in France.

Today internationally famous designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood and Gucci still use the naval uniform for inspiration.

Each chapter of this full color book is illustrated with photographs of entire uniforms from the collections of the UK's National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, along with carefully selected details. Line drawings illustrate the patterns and construction of the garments.

Accompanying the images are personal papers, diaries, fiction and other period artifacts which are used to demonstrate the significance of male fashion and uniform in forging a national, hierarchical, gendered identity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Genres: Nonfiction, Fashion

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 10, 2007

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great introduction to Royal Navy uniforms, I've enjoyed it a lot! The bibliography and sources in general are a really good addition. I would've liked a bit more context in the descriptions of the uniform examples in the latter half of the book, but we can't have everything at once I suppose. Despite that I would heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject!

[Georgia Whitear · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good reference book for this very specific area of historical dress, bit of a thick read for anything else. A few interesting bits about the evolution of the navy in popular culture and ideas of masculinity but in general pretty dry.

[laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely going to be a book that I return to often - an excellent overview of changing naval dress, and full of glorious photographs for reference. I love the fact that details such as buttons and stockings were included, too!

[Ietrio · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the title. But the book is dry and scholastic. Way too wordy. And there you have some boat pics put in to reach the required number of pages.

[Ronnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My obsession with a certain 19th-century Navy-man-turned-dragon-captain (Laurence from Naomi Novik's *Téméraire* series) led me to looking up this book, and I'm glad I did. 

The essays were interesting and informative, and I'll likely at some point look into buying this book myself instead of just signing it out from the library so I can read them again. 

The book is filled with all sorts of photos and outlines a lot of details about the particulars of Navy uniforms over this timeframe also.  

A very interesting and thoughtful read! 

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated, impressively referenced, and named in a really catchy way book. It addressed how the British naval uniform evolved over time and how it affected the fashion and how was affected by the fashion. The patterns are an extra bonus to the book.

[Ollie Embourne · Rating 5 out of 5]

hugely enjoying this on its own at present but the ability to bootleg a few decades' worth of naval uniforms if you so desire is a massive bonus too.