Customer Reviews

Dressed to Kill: British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions, 1748-1857

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Written by the Curator of Decorative Arts and Material Culture at the National Maritime Museum, London, this soft-bound book discusses the development of Royal Navy officer uniform from its first beginnings in 1748 until 1857. Uniform for ratings is discussed briefly in the text but since uniform for ratings were not regulated until 1857 it remains outside the scope of this book.

The author places her subject within the context of contemporary civilian fashion and discusses the deliberate intent of the first uniform to delineate social class as well as rank. The author makes the point that despite the adoption of a uniform Royal Navy officers were initially considered crass and unmannered. Changes to the uniform over during the period are examined using descriptions from period literature, pamphlets and tracts to give a sense of the changing public perceptions of the Royal Navy and the role of that uniform played in visually reinforcing these views.

The text is authoritative, factual and fully referenced. The book is broadly divided into three sections: the text; colour photographs of surviving examples of uniform; and line drawings of selected items from Section Two to illustrate construction of the garment and how they could be tailored. Photos and images have been selected with skill to represent and compliment the text and subject matter.

The colour plates feature examples of dress coats and includes; waistcoats, epaulettes, hats, undress coats for surgeons, lieutenants and midshipmen, a boat clock, trousers, a pursers full dress coat, buttons a ratings frock c'1854-65, neck-stock, tricorn hat, stockings, shirt, a robe of the Order of the Bath, a child's sailors suit 1846, and a jacket and waistcoat of the Honourable East India Company.

This is an excellent reference work for costumiers, figure modellers, and social and military historians, and was a pleasure to read. Highly recommended.

CHAPTER LIST:

INTRODUCTION
The first patterns
Before uniforms
The new uniform
The naval officer
Civilian crossover
Conclusion

WAR AND REVOLUTION
Naval uniform and contemporary fashion 1787-1912
A uniform for warrant officers
Uniform for medical officers
The naval officer in society
Uniform patterns 1812-1825
The old navy versus the new navy
The Navy's new clothes
The new uniform
The new navy
The uniform of 1843
The public image of the naval officer
Uniform regulations 1856
Ratings' uniforms
Conclusion

CATALOGUE
Pattern 1748
Pattern 1774
Pattern 1787
Pattern 1795-1812
Pattern 1812-1825
Pattern 1825-1827
Pattern 1827-1830
Pattern 1830-1843
Pattern 1841
Pattern 1843
Pattern 1846
Pattern 1856
Non-Regulation Accessories and Dress and Ceremonial Garments and Accessories
Indian Navy-Pattern 1828
Honourable East India Company - Pattern 1830
Patterns (line drawings)
Index

This is indeed an excellent book, but I bought it for less than 50 dollars from a british naval bookshop, whose website was easily accessible online. Frankly, I am astonished at the asking price for even a used copy. In fact, it was the outrageously exorbitant price asked for here that led me to buy it from a more reasonably minded seller, who knew how to keep their prices within fair and sensible limits. Come on people! More than a thousand dollars for a book that's not even old, or a collector's item?

I checked this book out from my library before purchasing so I knew what I was buying. I purchased it because I know some sailors who could benefit from having better clothing and thus it was needed on my book shelves.

Most of the garments are Officers, which of course are the minority of any crew.

I was very interested in seeing the "Patterns" in this book. Note I put quotation marks. The majority of the patterns are line drawings of the assembled garment laid flat. More like Nancy Bradfield's bookCostume in Detail: 1730-1930 There are no measurements, no scale, no graph. What you get is a good view of where the seam lines are. IF you want to recreat anything you will need to use Norah Waugh's The Cut of Men's Clothes: 1600-1900 and probably other books on tailoring in conjecture with this one.
The drawings are cleaner than Bradfield's but not as clean as those in SSeventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail, formerly Historical Fashion in detail, formerly Fashion in Detail