the power of a uniform
lies in its silence
so i made a video a few months back
ranking the world's best looking
uniforms
now of course my beloved marine corps
ended up on top but i couldn't help but
notice in the comments a number of
people
brought up what about the ss uniforms
what about
nazi uniforms now as a bit of a world
war ii history buff
and a guy here on youtube that talks
about men's style i thought
who better to answer the question why
were the nazis
so stylish seriously the ss uniforms
haven't been worn for coming in on 80
years
yet people still talk about them as the
most stylish uniforms
ever made so why are the ss uniforms so
iconic
find out gents in today's video
so to understand why the german uniforms
specifically the ss uniforms of world
war
ii are so iconic we need to go back and
look
at the unification of germany in 1871.
otto von bismarck basically unified the
german states
to defeat the french in 1871
unified all of these different states
that spoke a similar language but had
very
different looking militaries very
different customs
into one country germany now for the
next 40 years german uniforms were all
over the place in terms of
makeup color the way that they were put
together uh pretty much the only common
thing we saw in a lot of these uniforms
was
the famous pickle helmet you know with
the spike on top that right there was
pretty much the standard until
1910 what happened all of a sudden we
saw a standard go across
the german empire basically you needed
to conform
to gray now this was a practical move
all the colors before
really symbolized particular units
allowed commanders to be able to see
what's going on in the battlefield
but as war changed all of a sudden we
started heading into world war one
really it was going to be something with
trench warfare it was something where
maneuver and having the generals right
there on the field maneuvering
just wasn't going to happen so we saw
things going towards practicality
going towards a less expensive material
something that could be mass produced
and
worn by an entire nation by 1915 we're a
year
into world war one and all of a sudden
all those flamboyant uniforms all those
colors all that's gone out the window
for practicality in fact you really
couldn't see much difference between
enlisted men and
officers uniforms had become very simple
very clean
am i clean i don't mean free of dirt i
mean simply there was nothing to grab
onto all of a sudden it was like if it
was excess material if it was something
that could get snagged down in the
trenches
you got rid of it in fact that pickle
helmet all of a sudden was gone in 1916
and we saw the introduction
of the famous helmet which would go on
to serve the german military for a long
time
known as the stahl hill now in 1918
germany surrendered the great war
was over you had millions of soldiers
returning
all of a sudden the military went down
to a force of about a hundred thousand
and uniforms during the next 10 years
they really didn't go anywhere in fact
it was just things left over
from the great war they really didn't
have the money hyperinflation was
picking up and this was just
a tough time for the military and its
uniforms in general that being said
things started to change in the late
1920s early 1930s as we saw the german
re-armed
program come up so this is all of a
sudden the rise of the nazi party
all of a sudden it is a priority to make
germany strong to make
germany proud and all of a sudden we see
the military uniforms
start to get a makeover get money put
into them this was just something
they're getting better materials all of
a sudden
they're getting things to fit now i've
got to be honest there's nothing to me
extraordinary about the regular german
military uniform in the 1930s and
throughout world war ii
this is something that it looks good but
i think there are a lot of other
uniforms out there that would give it a
run for its money but the ss uniform
that
is something different now at this point
some of you guys may be asking wait a
minute isn't the ses
part of the german military technically
no
the ss was a paramilitary organization
and initially started off very small the
hull guards basically
these were the bodyguards for hitler
hitler at when he rose to power he
didn't have to trust
of the military he was always suspect of
it so he wanted to have his
own group this group right around him
that trusted him was loyal
directly to hitler and protected him but
the ss
was the organization in which we think
about those
black uniforms the symbolism such as you
know the death's head
the ss symbol right there that is what
i'm talking about mostly in today's
video
now heinrich himmler was the head of the
ss and it was divided into three parts
you had the general ss and their job was
to make sure that all of the nazi
policies
were enforced throughout germany then
you had the armed ss and this is where a
lot of military confusion comes in
because these guys were fighting right
next to military units but they didn't
usually have like tanks or any artillery
or anything like that
they were more of foot soldiers but they
could also go in and they they would go
through and sometimes clean up
afterwards hence all the atrocities that
are attributed with them these were the
hardcore nazis in fact that third group
the deaths head units
these were the guys in charge of the
concentration camps now the ss was evil
that's beyond debate when we look at the
millions and millions
and millions of slavs jews just
polls people killed throughout the world
by the ss
i mean it's horrible yet a hundred years
later
we are still ranking their look their
uniform
as one of the most stylish that many
people have ever seen
why is that the answer is quite simple
one
the uniform was a good product it was
well designed it was adorned with
recognizable symbols
and it was modeled by fit individuals
now that reason alone could have
propelled this uniform to stardom but
there were two
other reasons of why this uniform became
iconic
next up we've got exposure this is the
reason these uniforms became iconic
even in their own time period basically
you had germany in the 1930s
and even throughout the war using
propaganda
they had propaganda ministers they had
filmmakers come in and they put these
uniforms
in the best light possible and finally
let's talk about
reinforcement and repetition so the
reason these uniforms are iconic today
is because they keep popping up on the
screen hollywood
keeps reaching back and pulling these
things out
they love the symbolism they love the
look again it's a good product
so when they put it out there it's very
easy for us to be able to spot
the bad guy it's very easy for us to see
some
the villain because he's dressed in
black so let's go deeper on the design
of the sas uniform and start this off by
dispelling one of the biggest myths out
there
and that is hugo boss did not design
the ss uniform they manufactured these
uniforms
they made them but they did not design
them now the designer was actually a
relatively
unknown nazi designer by the name of
carl diebich
now debit was an early nazi sympathizer
joining the party in 1920s if you know
your history in the 1920s
the nazi party had some ups and downs a
number of members killed in the 1930s
though he came back
and rejoined the ss and put his unique
skills to work
designing uniforms with another
gentleman named walter heck now as good
as these nazi designers possibly were
what made them really smart is that they
stole
timeless designs these guys didn't
reinvent the wheel they didn't start
from scratch
they actually reached into history and
pulled out symbols
and colors that had worked now why the
color black was chosen there's a few
theories out there some people say
secretive societies
and just the color black had that
mystery had that look they were
searching for
other people say they were inspired by
the jesuits if you know anything about
that catholic organization
a little bit of you know the higher
educated basically the higher class
my belief is that they stole from their
own history check out this guy
august von mockinson he was a living
military legend in the 1930s a field
marshal during world war one
noticed the skull and crossbones right
there in the hat you can't miss it
what does this symbolize for many people
it symbolizes death
but for others it's a symbol of a
rejection of death
of spitting in death's face that you
take no prisoners
and that you will not be taken alive now
at the height of the power of the ss
it can be argued that its leader
heinrich himmler
was the second most powerful man in
germany right next to adolf hitler
if you think about it here's a guy that
had no prior
military experience was relatively young
for the position he had
and had a big feeling of inadequacy in
fact
there's a lot of stories that talk about
just goebbels and all these generals
just kind of
you know laughing because he was if you
look at his uniform and the details on
his uniform he was
trying to put anything he could on there
he didn't have medals
from the war and he started going down
that slippery slope
of trying to look like he was decorated
yet he truly wasn't a combat veteran
part of the whole symbolism that went
into making sure
those uniforms were immaculate and the
best ones out there
was because of the inadequacies that
himmler felt
now this next symbol is probably the
most recognizable nazi symbol in the
world and that
is the swastika but what's interesting
here and just like all the other symbols
i'm talking about the nazis didn't come
up with this they stole this and in fact
the word swastika
in sanskrit means conductive to
well-being this was a good luck charm
you look throughout asia you through
parts of the world for a long for
hundreds and hundreds of years this
symbol has been out there
and it's been something that you see on
temples you see being used and it always
meant something good
until in the 1930s the nazis took this
over and yeah it all went downhill
now why this symbol just looks so
striking on this uniform
is the use of color and contrast we've
got a black
uniform a very stark color all of a
sudden you bring in
a power red with the white this
combination right here
that red white black on a black uniform
is striking grabs attention very easy to
spot
and now let's talk about the symbol of
the shootstoffel aka the ss
by the way gents that was not easy for
me to pronounce i don't even know if i
got close but i appreciate you giving a
like today's video
if you like these deeper history videos
i've got a whole list of them i want to
create
but i want to hear from you guys if you
like videos like this now the ss was
based off an
ancient rune and that rune symbolized
the sun
what they did is they turned it and they
actually changed a bit of history and
said no no
this thing actually represents victory
so
you saw the ss which represented the
name of the unit
but it also represented victory victory
and the guy behind this remember that
graphic designer
walter heck we talked about earlier yeah
he had a hand in this
and on an interesting side note this
symbol became so powerful
in germany that they actually adjusted
their typewriters
to have the symbol on it so at this
point we have the uniforms designed we
have these amazing symbols
now let's go into hugo boss so he did
manufacture the uniforms and the way it
works is a lot of manufacturers
they don't do the designs they actually
take the design
and then they execute on it and this was
also a time period when a lot of
clothing
was made specifically for the
individuals i know when i was in the
marine corps it was something i could go
to the marine shop
and i would pay extra and i would have
the uniform tailored and cut to me
this was a big thing especially in the
1930s and if you were also going to be
filmed if you were going to be at an
event that hitler was going to be at
you made sure everything was adjusted
tailoring was big
and that is a big part why when we see
these pictures that the uniforms just
look amazing not only were they well
designed
but they were on fit young men who had
this this clothing
tailored to fit them and on a side note
hugo boss actually died
in 1948 his son took over the company
and him and his business partners turned
it into the giant you know brand that it
ended up becoming in the 1970s 80s and
90s
but what's interesting is you go back
and you look at in 1945 during the
denotifying process which they would
make you take all these classes
basically figure out how what level of a
nazi you were he was actually considered
to be one of the lower level
and went through and paid a fine and
didn't pay a fine because he had worked
with the nazis
he paid a fine because he used 150 slave
laborers
in fact it can be argued the greatest
thing the hugo boss company ever did
was rebrand itself but damn those
germans do make some good
fragrances so we can see that they had a
great product now let's talk about
exposure and what was happening in the
late 1920s 1930s
we saw the explosion of media all of a
sudden
you could film something and you could
show it on the other side of the world
and people could actually see what was
there this was something totally new
germany was taking full advantage of
this they
not only had people that worked in
propaganda they had a huge
propaganda budget as an artist or a
former artist
you know hitler knew the power of image
the power
of this new thing called video and he
wanted to make sure the world
saw germany as he wanted it to be seen
propaganda becomes ineffective
the moment we become aware of it joseph
goebbels
now if you've studied world war ii in
nazi germany you've heard of joseph
goebbels but not as many people know
that he was the minister of propaganda i
mean what is that
what country i mean you look through
most countries they don't have a
minister
of propaganda this was unheard of at a
time
when all of a sudden media was exploding
the power that globals had here was
amazing now goebbels was a politician
and politicians were as bad then as they
are now they're not good at making
anything
except making themselves look good at
our expense no he had a secret weapon
actually it wasn't his
it was hitler's does the name lenny
rifenstahl ring a bell
most likely not she's one of those nazis
that isn't really talked about
yet she had a huge impact in the way
that the world
saw nazi germany in the 1930s to me what
makes lenny so interesting is that she
was a true
believer in 1932 she saw hitler speak
and she just hook line and sinker bought
into what the guy was saying she talked
about
it was like a religious experience she
talked about having a vision
this was a very talented woman this was
what someone that it was at the
forefront
of making movies somebody that had real
skill
she got introduced to hitler hitler
absolutely loved
what she talked about he had a deep
connection in fact
himmler would become very jealous of the
relationship because she could go
directly to hitler
and all of a sudden he started painting
his ideas
of how he wanted this idea for a film to
be
she was given a budget and all of a
sudden she started making
propaganda films that did not for most
people didn't even
seem like propaganda the film's victory
of the faith
the film triumph of the will these would
go on to be watched by
millions around the world and inspire
many people of german descent
to return to germany and serve in the
military
she was also commissioned to film the
1936 summer olympics
in berlin where for the first time ever
she was using tracking shots on athletes
and a film came out of that called
olympia which was very well
received and she even caught the famous
footage of
jesse owens winning his gold medals now
once germany invaded poland a lot of her
work slowed down she actually did
accompany
german troops into poland and filmed
some of that but ended up returning a
lot of the propaganda all of a sudden
started coming directly
into germany making sure that the people
you know weren't aware of what's going
on outside the world
keeping them very focused in on their
mission point being
is we had fanatics we had people that
truly believed
they were right with talent with skill
creating films that they felt were
authentic and when people watched this
stuff
they believed it was authentic and that
was is that's what's so scary about this
again you had a great product you had
you know
people that were pushing this with a
very with a huge
budget around the world up to the start
of the war and now let's talk about
repetition
let's talk about what hollywood feeds us
so when hollywood needs a bad guy
who do they pull on they pull on the
nazis they pull on the ss
because first up i mean all bad guys
wear black right so it fits in
with the stereotype and they just bring
in great looking uniforms oftentimes we
have very charismatic
actors we like to have a good villain it
makes for a good movie
and again and again it's reinforced
that these guys dress well that they are
very you know and that's what makes them
seem so evil in a lot of these movies
is that they are smart they are
intelligent and at the slightest without
any hesitation
they will kill you and this is something
that hollywood
again and again repeats and puts out
there so it's always
top of mind it's always something that
we're seeing it's something that again
and again
is imprinted on us and if marketing will
tell you anything
repetition repetition repetition it
creates sales
and it keeps them top of mind so
whenever we're thinking about a uniform
we just go back to this one we just saw
the movie a few months back yeah
that nazi ss uniform as for my personal
opinion not that this video didn't have
a lot of that
i do think they are very strong striking
uniforms when i look at these i'm like
wow this is
power this is dark this is definitely
the uniform of somebody that
you know wants to send that signal of
intimidation black is a color that does
that
power aggression do i think they're one
of the top uniforms of all time
probably not i do definitely think they
are
a bit overrated for what it is but guys
i want to hear from you what's your
opinion did i miss something
let me know down in the comments what do
you think of the ss uniforms
which uniforms do you think are better
which uniforms maybe should i cover next
in another video and speaking of other
videos what video to watch next
how about iconic american style pieces
that transform the world
what am i talking about what pieces are
these guys find out in this video right
here and
get ready yeah to go america