﻿7 Timeless Fashion Trends From The Military [0:00:00]
All right, gents, pop quiz. Have you ever heard of a bloodshed? And, no, I’m not talking
about some type of cardiovascular disease. No, what I’m referring to are cloth patches
that were sewn inside flight jackets that were made famous by the flying tigers during
World War II. [Music]
Now, if you know your military history, you remember the Flying Tigers were a volunteer
American group that operated from 1941 to 1942 and opposed the Japanese flying under
the flag of the Republic of China Air Force. Now, the pilots came from the United States Army
Air Corps, Navy, and Marine Corps and pretty much none of them spoke Chinese, so there is
going to be an issue if they were shot down over China how to communicate that, yeah, I’m fighting
for you guys and you need to get me to safety. So, to deal with this issue, they stole a page
from the playbook of the Royal Air Force from World War I, who used what was called
ransom notes for the first time. And that’s where a pilot is flying over
an area where they don’t speak the language would have notes that promise a reward, promise a gift
in kind if you got me the pilot to a safe haven. In World War II they became known as bloodsheds
and the ones worn by the Flying Tigers actually had in Chinese on the inside of the jacket,
this is an American fighting for the Chinese, make sure to see him to a safe haven. And if
you do this, you will be rewarded. Now, as World War II expanded those
sheets were eventually written in over 50 languages, used in France around the world.
And they continue to be used throughout the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War.
Now, you may be thinking, okay, that sounds good in theory, but were they actually used? Guys,
65,000 sheets were actually paid in and used anywhere from 50 to 100 bucks. But, get this,
so there was a North Korean fisherman who during the Korean War actually helped get an American
B-29 pilot back through enemy lines. His son was awarded and this is with
interest in 1993, $100,000 for what his father did to save that American.
So, what’s this got to do with fashion? Because it speaks the legendary status of the A-2 leather
bomber jacket and the MA-1 flight jacket. Anytime Hollywood wants to portray an actor
as being strong and adventurous, they’re going to put him in a leather flight jacket.
If you personally just want a functional and good looking jacket, then go with an MA-1 flight coat.
And beyond the bloodshed, flight jackets were also pioneering in their use
of the new materials. At the time, they were using a fire resistant polyester type material
that was inexpensive to make. And to this day, we’re seeing used in jackets around the world.
In addition, you could turn the jacket inside out. Inside the jacket,
you have a bright orange. And we see this reversible clothing all over the place.
Why did they use this in the military? Because if you’re a down pilot and that helicopter is coming
in to save you, you want to be spotted whether you’re in the water, whether you are in a dry
land, you don’t want to wear anything camouflage, so you turn in that jacket inside out, so that
you can be spotted by search air and rescue. Now, today’s video, gents is brought to you by my
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Speaking of fashion trends coming from the military into the civilian world, let’s talk
about camouflage. Right here, check out this camo kilt. And you guys out there kilt wearers,
let me know in the comments below and I want to hear your opinion about camouflage in general.
I used to be against it, then I got a pair of camo shorts like this right here. Check out these camo
shorts, I find that they are so easy to wear. Yes, they are casual, but when you’re wearing shorts,
your casual in general, I find pairing them with a nice dark colored polo, a light colored polo,
going with even some nice shoes with this, all of a sudden, I’m having fun, I’m bringing in a
pattern that normally is very difficult to match. But, when you wear it with shorts and, again,
you wear it just a solid colored shirts, you – I think it looks pretty good.
And, again, down in the comments, I want to hear what you think of that kilt, what you think of
camouflage in general, should I do a bug out bag video? Again, let me know in the comments below.
Now, this next fashion trend started getting hot in 1916 and that’s when the New York Times wrote
about it and said why in the world are Europeans starting to wear bracelets with clocks on them?
Nowadays, we call these wristwatches. But, back in 1916, you had pretty much only pocket watches and
they were not very common. You had to have money to have a pocket watch because let’s just face it,
the intricacies they were all handmade. This was something that was a big deal, it was a
status symbol. Pretty much, you either have a lot of money or you work in a profession like
you operated a train and therefore, you needed to be able to tell the times, so there wasn’t going
to be any accidents or anything like that. Point being is that this was something that
very few people have. When you’re on the front, 1914, 1915 trench warfare,
these military officers all had watches. This was something that they bought themselves.
And they were trying to figure out how to best carry these things because they didn’t want to
be pulling them out of their pockets, you know, you’re about to do, you know,
a charge and you wanted to make sure everything was lined up. Timing had to be perfect here.
So in that case, all of a sudden they’re basically finding ways to strap them
to the wrist. You know, they were taking – taking bands, they were taking bracelets, they were
actually even affixing them to their clothing. Per military request, a number of wristwatches
were commissioned and after the war, the wristwatch started taking off. It became a
fashion trend and to this day, it has now replaced the pocket watch. And wristwatches even if now
they’ve gone high tech are something that we still see that men and women will love anywhere.
Now, this next fashion trend was started by a military regulation change in 1913. Before then,
undershirts basically had buttons on them and they – since the 1880s,
they had been using this design. It wasn’t very comfortable and it wasn’t very functional.
Well, the military said, you know what? We need these guys working cleaning, you know,
the top of decks and stuff on boats, so let’s give them a piece of gear that is simple and that
basically freeze up the arms, the t-shirt was invented 1913.
Original designs were actually made from wool. They took a long time to dry. It
just wasn’t a great design. But, eventually within a period of about five to ten years,
we saw that transition to the cotton t-shirt as we know it.
And, they went with white because it was incredibly cheap. Since about 1920, we saw
the white t-shirt all of a sudden it was – and this was underwear, this was not something that
was shown. It wasn’t until the 1950s that we saw the white t-shirt all of a sudden be worn under
a leather jacket, on the big screen that all of a sudden t-shirts started coming into the room.
And then, the late 1970s, 1980s, we saw the fashion tee all of a sudden putting, you know,
a little slogan or logo or something. I love New York across the tee, all of a sudden made
it something that people would wear every day. The next fashion trend coming out of the military,
the classic aviator. So, this goes back to 1929, Army Air Corps General Macready, he basically
noticed these pilots were starting to get headaches. They’re flying at higher altitudes,
he just note the rays, it was just really affecting and the sun.
So, he said, hey, we need to design some type of protection.
That’s where the aviators came from. And they’ve got that classic design that basically covers
the entire eye socket. That was the big thing. In 1936, they started selling these to the public
and they started becoming popular. We saw them in a variety of movies. James Stewart wore them
in the 1956 film, The Spirit of Saint Louis. Peter Fonda wore them in the amazing 1969 film,
Easy Rider. But, it was in 1986’s Top Gun with Tom Cruise that put aviators on the map as the has-to.
Basically, anyone that’s anybody that wants a pair of sunglasses, aviators are where you start.
And, seriously it makes sense because they compliment
almost any face shape and they just look good. Next up, let’s talk about neckwear specifically
ornamental neckwear. We’re talking about the necktie because you think about it,
what functional purpose does a necktie serve? [0:09:55]
Well, the answer, for over 2,000 years is it brings color, it disrupts pattern. It actually
is a great identifier of what unit you’re with. Going back to 200 B.C., we look at the Qin
Dynasty, those terracotta soldiers, guess what? They are wearing silk cords around their neck
to identify what units they’re with. Roman Legionnaires wore scarves not only
for protection, but, again, to identify what unit you are with and your rank.
In Europe’s Thirty Year War, Croatian mercenaries serving in the French military
wore scarves. They wore these neck pieces that, yes, decorative and just simply to show
who they were with and what they were about. And if you think that this is old fashioned,
you are to do your research on regimental neckties and the different type of club neckties out there
still worn over in England and the UK. And this is something that, hey,
some people will take in upfront if you’re wearing their colors, if you’re wearing their unit and you
didn’t serve if you didn’t go to that club. Because it used to be – we go back 1910,
pretty much you are only allowed to wear neckties that you had actually earned. So,
you went to this school, you were part of this club, you had served in these regimens, you
therefore could wear these colors. If not, well, good luck, you were just wearing something plain.
And let’s not forget about khakis, chinos, that tan color that we see on men’s trousers around
the world and women have adopted it as well. This actually goes back 1845. We had the English
over in India and they realized, you know, these white pants are not great,
they’re too bright, we need to go for something a little bit darker that’s going to better fit in.
In fact, it was 1848 that they officially adopted this as a color. They were using
different dyes, it was relatively inexpensive and it really made sense in camouflage.
Now, the United States didn’t figure this out ‘til about 1898 in the Spanish-American War,
all of a sudden we started adopting khaki. Again, we saw this pick up and become part of regular
uniforms just, you know, office uniforms with the military throughout World War I,
World War II. It then bled over into Amer – just regular college wear in the 1950s.
To this day, khakis, chinos, and the use of the color tan are a staple in men’s
fashion and women’s fashion around the world. Now, gents, I wasn’t able to cover everything in
today’s video. And if you want to see a part two, let me know in the comments down below. I didn’t
talk about trench coats, didn’t talk about what? Field jackets. I could have gone into pea coats,
could have talked about desert boots. I didn’t really even talk about cargo pants.
And speaking of cargo pants, again, check out today’s sponsor, 5.11 Tactical. They’ve got just
awesome great looking cargo pants. You don’t see this very often where a company mixes style
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check out their stuff and peruse through maybe add it to your wish list if nothing else. An
awesome company, guys, and that’s about it. So, what video to watch next? How about how I
rank military uniforms around the world? Who’s got the best uniforms?
Well, I think it’s pretty obvious who’s got the best, but find out what I say
in this video right here. I also rank some really bad ones. But, yeah, I enjoyed this
video, it’s a good one. [0:12:58] End of audio