Chapter 12 4. Modern stripes (19th-20th century)-2

A world of navy and white It is difficult to tell when and where sailors and sailors began to wear striped clothing.It is also difficult to determine its cause [78].Written records of this custom have long been lacking, and portraits do not provide any evidence until the mid-17th century.From the mid-seventeenth century onwards, sailors in uniform jackets with horizontal stripes, sometimes red and white, sometimes blue and white, can be seen in several English and Dutch paintings of naval battles.But we will have to wait until the end of the next century to see such examples in abundance.Since then, the use of striped tops has become more common, and even similar striped trousers have appeared.Since then, in most Western navies, various regulations have confirmed and systematized the close connection between sailors and stripes.

In fact, not all sailors wear striped shirts.It belongs only to sailors, that is to say, ordinary crew members who participate in operations under the command of the commander.In 18th-century paintings, the striped shirt seems to have served as a clothing symbol for sailor status, and it has continued to this day.The garment thus places the wearer at the bottom of the military rank.Sometimes, it may have a pejorative connotation.For example, French naval officers today still unceremoniously refer to officers who came from the ranks instead of the Naval Academy as "zebras".Because they used to wear blue and white striped knit tops［79］.

Historians are entitled to wonder if there is some connection between the derogatory striped clothing used in medieval society and the earliest striped uniforms of modern sailors.Did the uniform originally also serve as some kind of pejorative symbol?Or is it nothing more than a clothing signal, since it is always dangerous to operate on a ship, sailors must be easily spotted in all circumstances?Stripes are more conspicuous than a single color, especially when red stripes are combined with white stripes, and on a boat, this is the role that the combination of these two colors seems to be superior to the combination of blue and white.

Perhaps, though, the origins of navy stripes have neither ideology nor symbolism, but only fabric.The sailor's striped shirt is actually a kind of knitwear, that is to say, a kind of thermal underwear cut from knitwear, and its manufacture is related to the craftsmanship of the knitting industry.However, for a long period of time, due to technical and other reasons, the European knitting industry mainly produced striped clothes (stockings, tight trousers, bonnets, gloves) [80].Is it necessary, then, to link the appearance of the sailor's striped jersey on the icy seas with the popularity of machine-woven cloth from the mid-17th century onwards?The history of symbols is arguably lost over long periods, but the anecdotal chronology is fleshed out.

In any case, the sailor's stripes began to span centuries and oceans from this time on. In terms of performance and feeling, the relationship between striped clothes or striped cloth and sailors gradually became close or even inseparable.Because the stripes on the ship don't just appear on the sailor's clothes, other stripes can also be seen on the ship.First there are the sails—those of ancient and medieval origin, which are almost always striped[81]—and most national flags.Since the 18th century, national flags have been subject to various emblem rules, the principles of which are very similar to those of the coat of arms [82].

What is most striking to the historian, however, is not this, nor even that striped clothing was adopted by fishermen, boaters, freshwater sailors or gondoliers in Venetian canoes!Most interesting is tracing the evolution of the 19th and 20th centuries from high seas stripes to seaside stripes to sports and leisure stripes.This involves a large-scale social phenomenon that has gradually merged all the ancient uses of stripes into a single system, which is so important in our daily life today that it is worth exploring. European societies moved the sea-related stripes from the sea to the shore in discovering the joys of sea bathing and the beach.This practice of striped clothing and striped cloth borrowed from the sailor world did not appear in the 18th century, was extremely rare in the first half of the 19th century, but became very popular on the beaches of Normandy at the end of the Second Empire, and continued for decades after that. develop.From 1858 to 1860, a painter named Eugenie Boudin left us a lot of evidence: tent and chair cloth, bathing suits, women's skirts, girls' parasols, children's clothes, in the Everything or almost everything by the sea is already striped [83].The phenomenon also occurred on the southwestern coast of France and later spread to the coasts of Great Britain and Belgium.On the eve of the First World War there was no temperate European coast that was not a real stage for stripes.[84]

Stripes associated with seawater aren't just trendy because they're trendy.Reasons had to be found outside of upper class wanting to imitate the dress of a lower professional body—the sailors.Indeed, at the seaside, people are freed from certain restrictions.People dare to do things that they dare not do in the city, dare to break certain conventions, and sometimes even "degenerate".But people come to the beach not only for these things, people also come here to breathe fresh air, swim, exercise, keep fit.Frequenting of thalassotherapy resorts was a fitness as well as fashionable activity in the Belle Époque [85].That's why we see again the wholesome and ethical stripes mentioned in the previous paragraph at the beach.For bourgeois society at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, things that touch the body should always be white, light-colored or striped, so the beach blends the stripes related to the sea and the stripes of the guardians. One.

A typical example of this is swimwear.Health practitioners want swimsuits to be white.But any white fabric is very inconvenient, because it is almost transparent when it comes out of the water.Physicians do not advocate black or dark swimsuits, because wearing a single dark color directly on the body is still considered unhygienic in this day and age.This has led to the popularity of striped swimsuits that combine light and dark colors, usually white and navy.Societal morality and physical purity are thus preserved, and the sanitary stripes merge with those of the sailors. There's no need to write too much about the meteoric rise of "seaside" stripes after the crazy years.The more we move forward, the more stripes invade the beach: swimsuits and loungewear, bathrobes, towels, tents, sun umbrellas, windbreakers, deck chairs, curtains in front of shops, children's toys, balloons, sports bags, all kinds Accessories for items.It didn't stop until the 1970s and even the 1980s, and then it started to fade.Striped decoration didn't disappear—it wasn't uncommon—but gradually gave way to other types of decoration, first exotic decoration (trying to recall tropical beach beaches and southern seas), and secondly "California" decor (teenage taste and fashion predominate as elsewhere).

Previously, between the 1930s and 1960s, the popularity of stripes on the beach was accompanied by a certain de-aristocratic phenomenon.The seaside was no longer frequented only by the well-to-do, other social groups gradually adopted the habits, customs, rules, fabrics and clothing of the earliest vacationers.In the process of fashion, trendy things become less trendy.However, unlike other types of decoration, stripes have never been popularized.Despite its popularity, especially after World War II, stripes have maintained a reputation for elegance and class.It seems that the stripe fashion, which reached its peak around 1900-1920, is indeed over, but the rules have not changed.In general, it is somewhat "cool" to wear stripes at the beach, although we have seen that having stripes of one kind or another and deviating even slightly from contemporary norms regarding their width, color or structure can go from elegant to It is vulgar [86].

The stripes that are always "cool" are mostly white stripes combined with another color.The presence of white seems to give the stripes an invariably clean quality.The crisp streaks are sometimes seen in perishable produce stores away from the beach.Where dairy products, fish, meat, fruit, vegetables are sold, large striped curtains or facades often make a good impression and seem to guarantee the freshness and quality of the goods sold in the store.Other stores that do not sell fresh products will not hesitate to use large striped curtains or decorations to show elegance, youth, humor and enthusiasm.

Because, over the decades, seaside stripes have become vacation and summer stripes, no longer just about sailors' clothes and swimmers' hygiene.It has also entered the field of leisure, the world of entertainment and sports, the world of youth.Stripes went from marine, hygiene and high society to gaming, sports and fun.