Born on the Battlefield Menswear Garments with Military Origins

Many of the menswear garments we wear today actually have utilitarian origins that were created during times of war. Discover how they came to be–you might be surprised how many military-born items you have in your closet!

1. Trench Coat

During World War I, soldiers lived in awful environments and needed something they could wear for extended periods of time to help repel water, dirt, and general grime in the trenches. Makers like Burberry rose to the occasion and came up with a multipurpose military coat that soldiers could use for protection and general comfort while forced to live in these encampments.

It was so effective that the trench coat was what they literally lived, ate, and slept in, and it repelled the elements so well to the point that soldiers continued wearing it after the war.

Add in the fact that they were widely available in surplus stores after World War I, and their continued adoption by the broader public made the trench coat the iconic piece of outerwear we know it is today.

To this day, trench coats and many of the items we’re going to mention include features and accessories that haven’t quite left the battlefield behind. Once, Raphael was wearing his trench coat in the GG office and Teresa asked him, “What are those rings for?” Raphael nonchalantly replied, “For holding grenades.” In fact, there’s a disagreement about whether trench coat D-rings were used for this purpose. But, it’s still a great story.

2. Pea Coat

Originally popular in the British Navy after being adopted from the Dutch, mainly because they were extremely warm and easy to move around in when compared to the knee or ankle-length great coats seen in other branches of the military. In fact, petty officers were expected to climb up ropes and swab decks while wearing them. We wouldn’t recommend trying that yourself, though. 

Given that the coat had a great combination of practicality and stylish features, pea coats soon gained traction with offerings at military surplus stores and became beloved by civilians who appreciated their overcoat-like style while being just short enough to be worn more casually, leading to it becoming the business casual staple piece of outerwear it’s known as today.

3. Field Jackets

Field jackets had uses in World War I and World War II and had a popular offshoot with the older models more resembling the safari bush jacket as we know them today. Although, despite having crossover with military styles, the safari jacket is better known today for being used in hunting excursions and recreational trips.

Still, the iconic M65 model field jacket is what gained popularity in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts and allowed the jacket to truly become its own thing. The M65 was an extremely practical garment that had excess pockets and built-in features like a hood and was designed to be like a modern version of the trench coat during the winter months of military campaigns, where soldiers lived in these jackets and continued wearing them even after they returned from war.

The jacket was even worn ironically by protesters and icons of the counterculture revolution like John Lennon and Bob Dylan as a way to show opposition to the Vietnam conflict, making regular citizens later adopt them more as a fashion statement than their original use.

Nowadays, the jacket style and material will vary from its original rugged and coarse exterior to extremely refined. Even makers like Loro Piana make high-end versions of this jacket now, like the Windmate Traveler model, which works surprisingly well when combined with elements of fine tailoring.

4. Aviator/Bomber Jackets

Leather jackets were favored by pilots in World War I and World War II, with the B3 model being one of the most iconic. Before enclosed cockpits were invented, it was extremely cold while flying in the open air, making the experience a literal ice box and, even after enclosure, they didn’t have climate control and it gets chilly at 25,000 ft.

Given the prestige and cool factor that comes from being a fighter jet pilot, civilians soon wanted to mimic these styles and the jacket evolved into what we know as the bomber style today.

For more on bomber and flight jackets, we’ve got you covered with a separate guide.

5. Chinos

Chino cloth is a twill fabric woven from cotton and was intended to be breathable hard-wearing fabric for the British military when running campaigns in Africa, India, or other desert or tropical environments. The iconic khaki color serves as a type of early camouflage as if someone blended in the sand dunes or other dusty landscapes.

They’re so associated with the British army that Boers refered to British soldiers as “die Kakies.”

Chino fabric was adopted into other military offshoots, such as Gurkha trousers, after being adopted by the feared Gurkha soldiers of the Indian subcontinent.

Outfit Rundown

6. T-Shirts

The military made wearing a T-shirt as an outer garment a thing. We first started seeing T-shirts being adopted as a part of military uniform in World War I by the US Navy, and other branches followed suit.

T-shirts were explicitly undergarments, required to be worn under uniform shirts. However, going into the 1930s and 1940s, uniform requirements were relaxed, and soldiers were allowed to wear their T-shirts around camp and base under certain circumstances. Some soldiers continued the practice once they returned home and would even add graphics to the front of them to help distinguish them as an intentional outerwear choice.

Their rough and tumble association fit perfectly with Marlon Brando’s character in A Streetcar Named Desire, and the T-shirt soon became a symbol of rebellion and non-conformity, eventually leading to one standard-issue uniform becoming the current super casual default style for many civilians.

7. Blucher Shoe

Next, let’s turn to footwear. You may have heard of a type of shoe similar to a derby called a Blucher with a one-cut vamp made from a single piece of leather. Turns out, the name was a reference to Napoleonic-era Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard von Blücher, who commissioned the shoe to assist his soldiers when marching for long periods in the field.

The open lace system meant the leather did not have to be worn so tightly around the ankle and allowed for a more comfortable and functional experience in general. Soon, the other European nations began to copy the innovation and the lacing system around the vamp is still seen as the preferred method of use for casual and business casual shoes.

8. Wellington Boots

Let’s keep marching with footwear.

To this day, Wellingtons remain a popular rain boot, lovingly called “Wellies,” and we’ve done an article on them as well. 

9. Desert Boots

Meanwhile, the desert boot was a variation of the athletic chukka boot, which was adopted from the Indian subcontinent into footwear associated with the sport of polo. It allowed for mobility while still helping keep dirt away from getting underneath your pants.

Unique desert boot varieties similar to chukka boots were worn by various armies throughout the early 20th century, meaning that the chukka was effectively reborn on the battlefield as the desert boot. Technically speaking, though, no definitive desert boot existed until 1949 when the C&J Clark Shoe Company in Great Britain standardized their take on the desert boot as a crepe-soled chukka with a suede upper.

The desert boot enjoyed popularity as a hardwearing but comfortable civilian boot, and advertising often played off of its military heritage. 

10. Aviator Sunglasses

Next up, we’ve got an accessory. While goggles that protect the eyes from glare have been around for millennia, aviator sunglasses are uniquely military. This particular design was intended expressly for military functionality with their large and convex frames designed to block the sun from all possible angles—since one bad attack of glare could be the difference between life or death in a dogfight.

Soon, Hollywood actors during the Golden Age of Menswear began wearing sunglasses, and many prominent actors from the time served in at least one of the World Wars as well, which led to other people mimicking the style themselves while outside.

The aviator arguably hit its peak popularity during the 1980s, when Top Gun prominently featured them as something every pilot wore and could help them see the highway to the danger zone.

11. Mess Jacket

Believe it or not, even some of these pieces of formal wear have military origins. Mess jackets were first introduced as formal uniforms in prestigious English schools like Eton around 1800; and by the mid-19th century, they had carried over to the military, where they were less fussy and more utilitarian than tail coats. Not to mention, considerably cooler. We mean literally cooler, although, they look cool, too.

Mess jackets were soon adopted by more militaries around the world as formal attire and broke into the civilian world in 1931 as one of the biggest and earliest fads of the Golden Age of Menswear. In fact, the mess jacket became a victim of its own popularity as the owners of nightclubs and restaurants began to dress their staff like waiters or bellhops in it to appear trendy, so that by 1934, the trend fizzled as men feared being mistaken for the help. 

12. Cummerbund

Mess jackets haven’t quite survived outside of military settings, but our final item certainly has. The modern cummerbund is modeled after the waist sashes, which were originally worn by British military officers who served in more hot and humid climates like India.

The traditional waistcoat—that was ubiquitous at the time—covered more of the body, which could cause the wearer to become overheated. Instead, soldiers opted to borrow from the sartorial customs of the places they served, and they used these sashes as a way to still have a proper waist covering since leaving the shirt front around the waist exposed was the equivalent of walking around in your underwear.

Eventually, the literal sash was replaced with the cummerbund we know today, the pleats of which are intentionally evocative of the folds of a sash. This style caught the interest of the royal courts and the public once these soldiers returned home with this new-found style and, now, the cummerbund has replaced the evening waistcoat as a preferred Black Tie evening waist covering. Classic menswear and military attire developed together, so it’s no surprise that these items made their way from the battlefield into stylish gents’ wardrobes.

To learn more about how military fashion broadly impacted classic style, check out Preston’s guide on the military as the secret source of classic menswear.

What’s your favorite military-turned-menswear item story? Let us know in the comments.