WAR AND CONFLICT EITHER INTRODUCE AN ENTIRELY NEW STYLE OF GARMENT, SUCH AS THE DOUBLET, BOMBER JACKET, OR PLAIN WHITE T, OR PUSH US TOWARD A STYLE MOVEMENT, LIKE THE MASCULINIZATION OF WOMEN’S CLOTHING. WE WEAR WAR Text: Valentina Soja \ Illustrations: Katelyn Beebe
Each morning, we rise and dress. Our bare bodies transform as we cover them in layers of fabric and drape, strategically assembling a uniform for the daily battle ahead: against the cluttered city streets, quaint cafes and faculty lunchrooms, filled with both familiar and unfamiliar faces. This is our outfit; whether it consists of a dress or pants and t-shirt, it forms the cohesion between our inner selves and outward presentation. In the past, this outfit, has been directly shaped by war. In the present, it still appears to be, but in small shifts. Like the first gunshot that leads to an army of weapons raised, every decision in dress has consequences. Manners of dress in a society often take a 180-degree-turn following war; only by looking at a time before style was determined by conflict on a battlefield can we see this. An example is the current era’s visual divide between men’s and women’s clothing. It was not always thus. The Etruscans, occupying the area just north of Rome, wrapped themselves in a shapeless, semi-circular, gender-neutral garment, called the “Chiton,” that usually extended to the ankles of the wearer. Comparable to an oversized living room curtain pinned around the body, men and women alike could be seen wearing the same garment. This reflects the social equality between the sexes enjoyed by the Etruscans as far back at 700 B.C. No pressure existed for women to marry or bear children. Gender parity and androgynous dress, the combination of masculine and feminine elements, was the only way of life they understood. It wouldn’t last. The invention of grimy, black gunpowder forced its way onto the battlefields of medieval Europe, changing warfare and styles of dress forever. The Burgundian Wars first introduced “handgunners,” a term coined as gunpowder was being placed into smaller forms of weaponry to generate quick action on the field. Despite the gun’s unreliability in comparison to other weaponry of the time, such as the bow and arrow, the gun possessed greater power at closer range, with injury much more severe. Other military swords used in combat began to fall out of favor as more deadly, contemporary weaponry was developed. Change in military weapons meant change in military garments, specifically into a more protective form. The small handgun gave a new direction to what men in battle wore on, and later off, of the field: the doublet. When the Duke of Burgundy was defeated, men in war were covering themselves in hard metal armor that not even the pointed edge of a sword or shot from a pistol could penetrate. The shape of the armor took that of a vest, where the sleeves were separate from the bodice. While the plated shield was only practical when in battle, it was the doublet worn underneath that became common among all men in Europe. The garment, which the modern vest is derived from, was joined at the center of the upper body with buttons or string. The doublet quickly took its place at the frontlines in battle and everyday life. As a padded garment, it was frequently worn atop the shirt and hose of the wearer with an over-gown. It was out of need, not want, that the distinction of gender through clothing developed; if women had been out
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