Fleet Fashion
Tracing the path of Naval Uniforms
into Everyday Dress
Honoring marine services personnel.
On view at the Alameda Museum on Alameda Avenue
During usual museum opening hours, weekends October 5–27, 2024
Uniforms
The Lone Sailor (replica)
United States Navy Memorial, Washington DC
“The Lone Sailor” statue displays elements of the Navy uniform, including the “Dixie Cup” cap and peacoat. The U.S. Navy commissioned the production of the original statue in 1987 in Washington, D.C., as a tribute to all sea services personnel. Lester Stone, owner of the former Stone Boatyard at 2517 Blanding Avenue, owned this replica.
For more details about the statue, see here, here or here.
The full-size statue includes the sailor’s typical ‘Duffel’ bag.
The peacoat was officially eliminated from the uniform in 2020.
WWI Navy Blue Dress Uniform
Ervin Wolslegel, an employee of the U.S. Naval Air Station in Alameda and a long-time Alameda resident, wore these Navy dress blues during World War I.
Style features include a sailor collar, black scarf, naval logo, and the distinctive white cap.
The cap – called ‘Dixie Cup’ since WWII because of its resemblance to the – by then popular- throw-away cup, was originally part of the undress whites, but US Navy sailors preferred it over the dress hat. The dark blue (navy blue) dress hat that would originally have belonged with the dress blues was a flat ‘pancake’ style hat, with band around the head with ribbons trailing in the neck.
The dress hat was eliminated from the uniform in 1963.
WWI Navy Undress Whites
Navy undress whites are the working uniform for enlisted sailors.
Ervin Wolslegel wore these undress whites during World War I. They are made of heavy white cotton twill and include a sailor collar, a breast pocket, and a cross-loop for a scarf. The pants appear flared and have sides tightened to size with twill tape, a front flap closure with bone buttons, and two front pockets.
The shirt was called a ‘middy’ after ‘ midshipman’,
the naval rank of the sailors that wore it.
WWII Uniform
Albert Clinton
The uniform did not change much between WWI and WWII. This snapshot shows Alamedan Albert Clinton wearing his Navy bell bottoms during World War II, in front of 1521 Morton St. These pants appear flared but are not true bell bottoms. They are wide-legged and fall straight from the thigh.
Clinton was one of over 160,000 African Americans who served in the Navy during WWII.
More about bell-bottom pants later…
See the exhibit on early women photographers Spencer & Stolte
(Mabel Spencer and Wanda Stolte) for another example
of an Alameda resident wearing the cap.
WAVES Officer’s Blue Dress Uniform
Lieutenant Commander Tova Petersen Wiley
During World War II Congress passed a law allowing women to serve in Navy shore establishments. The “Womens Reserve” or “Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES)” operated from July 21, 1942, until demobilization in 1946. The WAVES uniforms were designed by the New York couture house of Mainboucher. Exhibited is the winter uniform and brimmed hat.
The uniform on display has a single breasted navy wool notched collar jacket with gold buttons and insignia located on the collar and sleeve cuffs. The gored skirt is knee length and includes in-seam pockets. The navy-blue uniform, which designated the wearer as an officer versus a private, also included a white shirt, a navy tie, black Oxfords, a black leather purse, and black gloves.
Women’s Wear Daily reported on the unique style details of the WAVES uniforms designed by the American couturier Mainboucher. Notable features included a rounded lapel that covers pointed revers, a v-neck blouse with yoke, and a hat that has a “uniform aspect but is quite feminine in shape”.
The striped seersucker work summer uniforms were introduced in October of 1943. In the collection is the cap, attributed to Loma Petersen Wiley, the sister of Tova, who also served in the WAVES from 1941 to 1945. Trainees at Smith College disliked the way the cloth wrinkled and failed to retain a press.
By 1945, the WAVES consisted of 8,475 officers and 73,816 enlisted. In 1948 the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was signed into law, allowing women to serve in the regular Navy.
Alameda resident Lieutenant Tova Petersen Wiley (she married in 1943) rose to be the Assistant Director of the WAVES. She was the first woman to be promoted to Commander, and received a Medal of Merit for her service. The Alameda Council voted to invite her to serve on the Alameda Planning Board from 1949 to 1954.
For more information on the WAVES uniform,
see for instance: here or here.
Connections
Non-military Uniforms
Encinal Yacht Club Uniform, c. 1910
This uniform, derived from the Navy uniform, shows an alternative color, teal blue, stripes, and sailor collar, but has a dickie, or false front underneath.
In the late 1920s, the original wearer’s descendant, Doris Haslett Goodman, was involved in theatrical performances at the Little Theater – which morphed into Altarena Playhouse. Doris had Samuel Haslett’s no-longer-used uniform adapted to fit a woman as part of a theatrical performance. Samuel Haslett originally wore the uniform as president of the Encinal Yacht Club.
The Encinal Yacht Club, founded in 1890, was the 3rd oldest yacht club on the San Francisco Bay. It was a prominent feature of Alameda, at the end of a long pier extending from the foot of Grand Street. The embroidered flag emblem on the uniform is the original burgee of the Encinal Yacht Club – it changed around 1910 to a pennant shape. You can find a postcard of the old Encinal Yacht Club in the postcard display case.
See here for history about the Encinal Yacht Club.
More Connections …
The incorporation of naval-style elements outside uniforms in marine environments began with children’s wear in Britain.
Boys’ Sailor Suit
Prince Albert Edward, painting, 1846 (photo)
Queen Victoria and consort Prince Albert had a sailor suit made for their son Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (Edward VII). The royal couple commissioned a painting of the boy, wearing the costume, by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. The look quickly gained popularity in America and spurred the sailor costume trend for children.
Howard George Bernad, 1920s
Howard George Bernad, a long-time resident of Alameda, is shown here in a sailor suit, striking the same pose as Prince Albert Edward, in the early 1920s.
This child’s military style suit is an example of the popularity of sailor suits for children during the late 1800s. Samuel S. Haslett, Jr, born in Alameda in 1889, wore this outfit. It features a navy-blue serge jacket with silk cording, white sergeant stripes, and brass buttons stamped with “Dollar Steamship Lines.”
Sailor Dress
Eileen Knight, ca. 1910 (left) and ca. 1915 (right)
Girls also wore fashions with naval-style elements. Here, Eileen Knight, who lived in Alameda in the early 1900s, is pictured in two different versions of the sailor dress, replicating the navy blues and whites worn by the naval armed services.
In early 20th-century America, the dresses were also known Peter Thomson dresses, after the former naval tailor and owner of a prestigious New York and Philadelphia fashion house, who promoted the style.
School Uniforms
Porter School Graduation Photo, 1927
Peter Thomson also promoted the sailor dress style for school uniforms.
This Porter School graduation class photo shows the girls all wearing the same white outfit, with knotted scarf reminiscent of the sailor’s scarf. The boys all wore different suits.
Adult Fashions
Women’s Middy Blouse
The white cotton “Middy” blouse above has the original label “Joe Harris” San Francisco. Joe Harris was a purveyor of naval uniforms that gained popularity for women sailors. Carol Hamilton Heche, a descendant of one of the earliest residents of Alameda, wore this example circa 1920. In a note accompanying this donation, she wrote, “worn [on] trip to Hawaii with pants – Very daring.”
The original middy blouse came into existence around 1910. The blouse was made of lightweight cotton duck fabric or wool. In the 1920s, the middy shirt may have included a hip band. Originally white, later they came in other colors. Later versions also lost the sailor collar and even shortened the sleeves.
Sailor Collar
The first mention of the sailor collar for womenswear occurred in Vogue of 1893.
Sailor collars for women peaked in popularity around the World Wars. Women adopted these styles as recreational activities increased, such as bathing, bicycle riding, and sailing, in the early 1900s. Style elements identifying these activities spilled over into fashionable dress as they became part of everyday life. By the 1920s, it was a regular style element in shirtwaists.
The two examples in the exhibit are from the 1920s. Women would have worn them tucked into a long, bustled skirt. The style elements in these shirtwaists mimic those of the sailor’s white middy shirt, but – as in the blouses in the collection – with feminine details like embroidery, lace insets, or delicate buttons.
Swim Suits
Alameda Surf Bathing Advertisement, Oakland Tribune, 1913
Nautical theme elements were a popular choice in bathing costumes. On display in the exhibit is a full 3-piece suit, with navy bloomers, skirt, and top, all with white multiple stripes parallel to the hemlines, and matching cap, which has two rosettes made of striped fabric. This outfit dates from the late 19th century; as can be seen on the advertisement pictured here, by 1913, the bloomers had been lost, and the skirt had shortened.
By the 1930s women’s bathing suits would become shorter and more form fitting – serious swimmers participating in events at Alameda’s beach resorts promoted a one-piece swim suit. Still, often with nautical stripes.
Bathing suits with nautical elements and
photos of exhibit dives by female swimmers
can be seen in the Neptune Beach exhibit
Bell-Bottoms
candid photo, 1970 Horizon
The Encinal High School Yearbook for 1970 (here a candid photo from the book) shows only a few fashion-forward students wearing bell-bottom pants.
Hippies of the 1960s and 1970s were the first to adopt bell bottoms for everyday wear as a statement of counterculture. In the 1975 yearbook, one can view the progression of bell-bottom fashion. Most students started wearing them by 1975, although many still wore straight pantlegs. Sonny and Cher displayed the height of the bell-bottom trend during the 1970s.
Non-dress Items
The children’s sailor outfit was such a common sight that it showed up in multiple places. On Christmas cards; on toys
like this
Lithographic Print Doll…
Lithograph on polished cotton rag doll (boy), commercially produced. The doll is unjointed and handsewn.
The Art Fabric Mills Company printed doll patterns on fabric using lithography that was easy enough for children to sew. The printing technique produced life-like features, rich color and detail. The museum holds one example from 1895 depicting a young lad donning the popular children’s sailor suit.
Another example of a lithographic print doll can be found in the doll/toy exhibit
The sailor suit also showed up on cartoon characters like Pop-Eye and Donald Duck
The Neptune Beach exhibit includes
cast plaster figurines wearing nautical themed outfits.
…and even to this
Clothes Pin Bag
Sailor elements were incorporated in to hand made utility objects such as clothes pin bags. Possibly made after a common pattern, bags like this could be sewn from scrap fabric, and often resembled a favorite dress or – as in this case – a child’s outfit. The bag would be hung on a clothesline to have the pins handy while the laundry was getting pinned up.
Terms
navy blue:
The deep blue color, achieved originally by using indigo dye, was originally called ‘marine’ blue. But with the use of the color in Navy uniforms around the world, the term was adapted.
crackerjacks:
An image of a dog and a boy in a sailor suit was chosen as the mascot to appear on the package box for ‘Cracker Jacks’, a type of snack food, in 1916. This turned around onto the sailors; those wearing the uniform henceforth called ‘Crackerjacks’!
See here for information on Crackerjacks
neckerchief:
Scarf tied loosely with a simple square knot on the chest.
dungarees:
the two-piece blue US Navy uniform made of a coarse thick cotton cloth (possibly derived from ‘Dongri’, a village in India)
denim:
cotton twill with indigo-dyed warp thread – named after the French city Nîmes
jeans:
named after the twilled cotton fabric originally woven in the Italian city Genoa
canvas:
originally, sturdy cloth woven from thread made from hemp stems, Latin ‘cannabis’ (subspecies Cannabis Sativa L, low in actual cannabis).