Trench Coat

A military uniform appropriated for unisex civilian dress, the trench coat clothed the
British army during the trench warfare (hence its name) of World War I. The garment is
rooted in Charles Macintosh’s early-19th-century invention of rubberized cotton, used to
make the uniforms of the aristocratic gentlemen serving as British army officers and for
their sports- and rainwear.

American and French soldiers in the trenches, 1917. Historia/REX/Shutterstock

In 1916, British fashion house Burberry advertised their weatherproof military coat as
“Trench-Warm.” Heavy-duty and utilitarian, it featured a double-breasted closure, belted
waist, and knee-length flared skirt. Every part of its design was suited to trench warfare.
For example, its truncated cape directed water away from the body and its khaki color
provided camouflage. Male and female civilians adopted modified versions of the
garment, expressing patriotism and affinity with those on the front.
Humphrey Bogart, 1943. Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

After World War I, the trench coat was primarily used as rainwear. In the 1930s and
1940s, it gained popularity in women’s fashion, partly due to the return to showing the
waistline after a period of loosely cut flapper dresses. Movies further shaped its
popularity as femme fatales, gangsters, and detectives endowed it with intrigue.
Humphrey Bogart, in particular, imparted to it the aloofness and attractiveness of his
characters in Casablanca(1942) and The Big Sleep (1946). Though Burberry has
become synonymous with classic trench coats, since the mid-1960s, designers have re-
imagined it in countless ways.

Jumpsuit

Named for outfits originally worn by parachute jumpers, a jumpsuit is a one-piece

garment integrating both pants and top, worn by men and women alike. It is derived
from the union suit, a knitted, one-piece, unisex undergarment that emerged in mid-
1800 as an alternative to standard underwear. This suit was particularly significant for
women, since its streamlined combination of flannel top and drawers helped to liberate
them from the constricting layers of undergarments they were expected to wear under
their dresses. When all-in-one garments began appearing as outerwear, early iterations
emphasized utility and practicality. The 1913 “Lee Union-All,” for example, was a loose,
sturdy coverall originally worn by mechanics, and served as the U.S. military’s flight suit
during World War I.

Advertisement for the “Two-Way Siren Suit” on a pattern-packet frontispiece, 1940s.

Around this time, Futurist and Constructivist artists embraced the jumpsuit as a
universal garment that could eradicate social divisions. In 1914, the Futurists presented
a manifesto on men’s fashion calling for the abolition of heavy fabrics and adornments.
In response, artist Thayaht (Ernesto Michahelles) proposed a T-shaped jumpsuit cut
from a single piece of cloth, intended as an anti-bourgeois statement. Such sentiments
were echoed by Russian Constructivists Varvara Stepanova and Alexandr Rodchenko,
who viewed the jumpsuit as a vehicle for providing mass produced, egalitarian clothing
to the working-class majority. But the jumpsuit would also come to reflect dystopian
views of the future, as in the World War II-era siren suit. Promoted especially in England
and America, this durable women’s garment could be donned easily and rapidly in an
air raid emergency.

A woman wears a one-shouldered jumpsuit at the reopening of Studio 54, New York, 1979. Dustin
Pittman/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock

In the 1960s, the jumpsuit entered popular fashion. The following decade, it reached a
milestone by making pants acceptable for women’s eveningwear. Promoted by a range
of designers, many inspired by New York’s disco scene, the 1970s jumpsuit signified
luxury and glamour, and granted freedom of movement for dancing. American designer
Stephen Burrows’s sparkling gold lamé jumpsuit, for example, featured a backless
halter top and loosely gathered legs, the better to showcase the new fit body ideal of the
period.

Aviator Glasses

Aviator sunglasses (or aviators) developed out of a circumstance of cool-headed

courage. In the 1910s, when U.S. Army test pilots began flying at higher altitudes, they
wore fur-lined goggles to protect their eyes from extreme cold in the uncovered cockpits
of their biplanes. But these goggles frosted over. When Major Rudolph William
Schroeder reached a record-setting 38,180 feet and was forced to remove his frosted
goggles to locate an emergency oxygen supply, his eyes froze. Schroeder landed his
plane nevertheless and was rescued by Lieutenant John Macready, who then became
determined to optimize aviation goggles.

General Douglas MacArthur (left), Tokyo, 1945. Uncredited/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Lieutenant Macready approached optical company Bausch & Lomb to design a goggle
whose shape would seal the eyes from the cold with lenses that would provide
protection from the upper atmosphere’s bright sunlight. Dubbed Ray Ban for their
sunray-blocking function, the company’s goggles soon inspired similarly designed
sunglasses featuring green anti-glare lenses embedded into a plastic frame. By 1937,
Ray Ban sunglasses were available to the general public. A year later, they were
reengineered with a metal frame and re-branded the Ray-Ban Aviator.

Gloria Steinem speaks at the Democratic National Convention, Miami Beach, Florida, 1972.
AP/REX/Shutterstock

Though they were designed to be unisex, Ray-Ban Aviators were initially primarily
advertised to men because of their association with the military. Images of American
World War II General Douglas MacArthur wearing Ray-Ban Aviators heightened their
connotation of rugged machismo. In the 1970s, women adopted the style. With a
streamlined form suited to outdoor sporting activities, aviators contrasted with the
sizable, brightly colored sunglass styles previously advertised for women. When Ray-
Ban introduced colored frames and lenses to its 1970s aviator model, Vogue declared it
“clean and uncluttered—glasses with the same sparseness, the same no-nonsense
ease we’ve been seeing in clothes.”

Beret

The beret is a round, brimless felt cap. Versions can be traced back to ancient Greece,
and it has historically been used for weather protection. Its most common iteration (the
boína) appeared in the 15th century in Basque Country, where it was originally worn by
shepherds and remains part of traditional dress. The color of these berets varied, and
the red ones donned by residents of Navarre became symbolic of one of the fighting
sides in the civil wars of 19th-century Spain. Such use led to the incorporation of berets
into military uniforms worldwide.

Ernesto “Che” Guevara, 1959. Photo Joseph Scherschel/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

The beret’s roots among workers and peasants made it a potent symbol for war and the
arts, signifying counter-cultural affinities and rebelliousness. In the 1920s, black berets
became popular with artists, actors, and intellectuals. In the 1950s, they became
associated with the Beats. Simultaneously, berets began topping the heads of
revolutionaries worldwide, including two of Cuba’s most influential political leaders: Ché
Guevara and Fidel Castro.

Black Panthers at a rally in DeFremery Park, Oakland, California, 1968. Photo: Stephen Shames. ©
2017 Stephen Shames/Polaris. Courtesy Stephen Shames

In the United States, the Black Panther Party (BPP) adopted black berets, a symbol
Beyoncé appropriated in her 2016 Super Bowl Performance, which referenced the BPP
and their call for black power. Berets have been adopted by many other groups fighting
for the rights of marginalized people, including the Brown Berets, a Mexican-American
organization formed in 1967 calling for land to be returned to Mexico.

Hoodie

A mainstay of American casual wear, the hoodie is a hooded sweatshirt designed with
or without a central zipper and typically made of thick cotton jersey or polyester.
Sportswear manufacturer Champion invented the modern hoodie in the 1930s to keep
athletes warm before and after training. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, it became
popular among university students. More recently, technology industry titans, like
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, wear the hoodie as their power dress, defying
established dress codes.

Illustration from a Champion catalogue, c. 1966. Courtesy Hanesbrands, Inc.

Beginning in the mid-1970s and 1980s, the hoodie was widely worn by New York’s hip-
hop community, graffiti artists, and breakdancers. Skateboarders in many urban centers
rode with their hoods on to avoid being caught. Such uses associated the hoodie with
rebelliousness. In the 1990s, rappers like Wu Tang Clan wore the garment to signal
anonymity and resistance.
Million Hoodie March in Union Square, New York, 2012. Mary Altaffer/AP/REX/Shutterstock

But a hooded figure also arouses fear. Numerous fictional (e.g. the Grim Reaper) and
real (e.g. the Ku Klux Klan) figures associated with death and crime wear hoods, and
the hoodie has been at the center of racial stereotypes. In 2012, George Zimmerman
killed black teenager Trayvon Martin, claiming that he found Martin threatening because
of his dark hoodie. Martin’s supporters organized Million Hoodie Marches, turning its
stigma into a political statement against race-based violence and injustice.