U.S. Army Uniforms of World War One

The Sam Brown Belt and Military Fashions (Collier’s, 1917)

Six months after the United States entered the First World War all sorts of issues had to be addressed, such as the matter of the Sam Brown belt. Since 1914 the famous sword belt had been established as an emblem of authority among all the Allied armies along the assorted fronts, but the Americans didn’t like it one bit. The level-headed editors of Collier’s Magazine published the attached editorial pointing out that such matters of military fashion simply don’t matter at a time of national emergency and to illustrate their point they quoted a portion from Under Fire by Henri Barbusse which laid plain how miserable everyone (without exception) looks in the trenches, regardless of their accessories.

Popular from the Start (NY Times, 1917)

This small notice is interesting for what it doesn’t say: of all the uniform foppery and up-town military accessories that were made available for American officers of World War I, there was no run on serge, whipcord or fine Melton wools; pigskin was plentiful for custom boots and no one seemed fearful that pewter flasks were scarce. What was in short supply were trench coats. The officer candidates from Plattsburg (N.Y.) were making their desires known: they did not care to risk life and limb only to wear a mackinaw. These men wanted trench coats and the New York Times found that newsworthy (It is interesting to note that the reporting journalist had never actually seen one, or else he might not have said that it extended to the ankle).

Trench Coat by Junior (The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

Laboring under the most intense preasure, the harried ad man of 1918 enthused about the Junior Store’s latest trench coat just so:

This coat meets every specification of what a trench coat should be. The collar, when turned up, forms a Storm Proof Collar and has an extra wrap fixed to the shoulder to cover the fastening and make it waterproof.

Advertisements: Five Ads for Military Wrist Watches ( S & S, 1918 and Die Welt Spiegel, 1914)

The Great War held firsts in many categories (first big air war, first poison gas war, first submarine war) and it was also the first war in which the wrist watch played an important part. Four of the attached ads appeared in THE STARS AND STRIPES between 1918 and 1919 while the sole German ad that is posted first appeared during opening months of the conflict. Also provided is a color photograph of a World War One watch housed in one of the many types of wrist-bands available at that time.

Army Rank Insignia (Privately Printed, 1917)

A color illustration of the U.S. Army rank insignia worn by the American Army of World War I. Insignia noted are officer’s bronzed collar and shoulder devices as well as the sleeve chevrons and enlisted-men specialty badges. Excluded are enlisted men’s collar and cap devices. Please bare in mind that this insignia chart was not produced by the army but by civilians; we could only correct the errors that we were able to recognize.

Army Rank Insignia (Privately Printed, 1917)

A color illustration of the U.S. Army rank insignia worn by the American Army of World War I. Insignia noted are officer’s bronzed collar and shoulder devices as well as the sleeve chevrons and enlisted-men specialty badges. Excluded are enlisted men’s collar and cap devices. Please bare in mind that this insignia chart was not produced by the army but by civilians; we could only correct the errors that we were able to recognize.

The Shirt (Sears and Roebuck, 1918)

This illustration depicts the U.S. Army olive drab flannel pull-over shirt that was first issued to U.S. enlisted men in 1912. This pull-over shirt was was produced for the Army up until 1934, when the full button-front shirt was issued.

A.E.F. Uniform Insignia: Division Markings Barred From States (Stars and Stripes, 1919)

This uniform regulation was printed for all home bound Doughboys to see early in 1919; the order was later rescinded, however, it seemed that the General who was placed in charge of all state-side Army units during World War One disliked the European style military fashions that the A.E.F. was affecting. He also wished to ban the trench coat, over-seas cap, puttees and the Sam Brown Belt.

A Trench Coat for the Fashionable Ladies (Harper’s Bazaar, 1918)

Attached, you will find one of the first elegant, elongated fashion figure drawings to depict the trench coat as an element of feminine mode. Although this drawing first appeared in a Harper’s Bazaar fashion editorial recommending the coat as one of the better private purchase uniform items that could be worn by an American woman in one of the auxiliary units, it is clear that the fashion potential of the garment was not lost on the magazine’s editors or anyone else on this side of the Atlantic. This particular one was produced in far nicer fabric than was made available for the men. The acquaintance between the trench coat and American fashion designers has remained a strong one ever since.


To see other examples of war’s influence on fashion, click here.

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