U.S. Army Uniforms of World War One – Old Magazine Articles

A.E.F. Knit Uniform Accessories
(Fleisher’s Catalog, 1918)

Photographs from the W.W. I era Fleisher’s Knitting & Crochet Manual that depicted the variety of Quartermaster approved scarves, wristlets, helmets, sweaters and watch caps that were available to the Doughboys for service Over There. In some cases the knitting instructions are intact.

Some might be amused to see that the photographer’s stylist had used the 1902 blouse rather than the more suitable 1912 issue.

From Amazon: Fleisher’s Knitting & Crochet Manual

Four photographs of World War One Trench Coats
(A Current Book, 2005)

The following four images were first published in Stephen J. Chambers’ remarkable book, Uniforms & Equipment Of The British Army In World War I, and they will give the viewer good understanding concerning the broad variety of different trench coats that were made available at the time.

The afore mentioned British tailor’s journal West End Gazette remarked:

A feature (so far as tailors are concerned) of the European War is the variety of garments worn by officers, the details of which are suggested by the actual requirements of the campaign, rather than by the usual official regulations from the War Office. Never in the history of military tailoring, has such latitude been allowed, and officers are quick to recognize and avail themselves of the advantages of every practical design that is submitted for their approval.

Click here to read an old Vanity Fair magazine article about the trench coat.

One Tailor’s Encounter with the Trench Coat
(West End Gazette, 1915)

An excerpt from a British tailoring journal which explains what the garment is and is not. The illustrations show a long forgotten pattern with billows pockets and excessively long cuffs, which were intended to be gathered by wrist straps. You will also note that the trench coat is bereft of D rings and gas flaps and other fantasy elements of military-tailoring.

The World War One Trench Coat
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1918)

The fashion designers of the past ninety-four years all seem to be of one mind when it comes to the subject of the trench coat: it needs to be re-designed every four months. Years have passed, but still the garment has not reached a final state; meanwhile the rest of us only get one shot at a first impression. It is no matter whether the one who wears the trench coat is an actual trench-dweller or simply one who Tweets all day; the designers all have their opinions regarding the fluctuating number of straps and ‘D’ rings. There has been no end to the amount of cleverness applied to the re-treading of the garment and through the years we have been treated to doggy trench coats and lady’s evening gowns cut to resemble trench coats. Yet in the dark days of 1917, when the United States entered the fray, it was not lost on those who glanced at the attached column that too many of these raincoats were already buried in the damp grave yards of France and Belgium.

Click here to read about the fashion legacy of W.W. II: the t-shirt…

Trench Coats on Madison Avenue
(Magazine Advertisement. 1918)

The trench coat has become such a mainstay in the male wardrobe throughout the years it is difficult to imagine a time when the great shopping boulevards were without them. Perhaps the first men’s shops to offer them in the U.S. were on New York’s Madison Avenue: F.R. Tripler and Brooks Brothers, where the garments can still be purchased to this day. The attached vintage print ad was commissioned by F.R. Trippler for a gabardine trench coat as well as the sale of private-purchase flexible protective body armor. The body armor appears to have been modeled after a German design. The reader may be disappointed to learn that the Madison Avenue boutiques no longer offer body armor.

Brooks Brothers & Christmas 1917

During America’s short and costly participation in the First World War, a prominent New York clothing establishment, Brooks Brothers, did swift business making custom uniforms for both the Army and Navy.

As the following attachment will show, they also offered forty other items that were of use to both the officers as well as the ranks.

Click here to see a Vanity Fair editorial about Christmas gifts for Doughboys.

Christmas Shopping for the Doughboys
(Vogue, 1918)

These three pages were from the last of the two wartime Christmas issues American Vogue had managed to produce prior to the Armistice. Featured are some fashionable accessory items sold on New York’s Fifth Avenue that the Vogue editors deemed suitable for industrial warfare.

Click here to read about the Sam Brown Belt.

The Famous One: The Burberry Trench Coat
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

The trench coat, the submarine and the machine-gun were just a few of the innovations bequeathed to the modern world following the bloody brawl of 1914-1918. All three are still with us today, and one could even argue that, given the bitter peace that followed, these three were the only victors that emerged from that war. If that is the case, three cheers for Field Marshal Burberry and his legion of trench coats that have marched on every capitol city since that first autumn on the Marne!

The Famous One: The Burberry Trench Coat
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

Sam Brown Belts: Two Short Notices
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

Aside from barb wire, poison gas, machine guns and trenches, the untested American officer corps had one other alien item to contend with: the Sam Brown Belt. Worn by all the officers in the allied armies and widely recognized as the premiere emblem of authority along the front lines, many American officers were of mixed minds concerning this military fashion accessory.

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.

Trench Coats for Women
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

The Donut Dollies, Nurses and Hello Girls needed trench coats, too. This link will display the printable image of a 1918 advertisement for one of the first American trench coats made for women.

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)

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.