German Field Blouse Design
Posted on March 1, 2009
Filed Under Military Design
A lot of thought went into the design of the uniforms of the WWII German army. Check out one of my favorite articles from lostbattalions.com, that looks at some of the ideas behind the design. Click below to read more.
Above: The sleeve cuff should end just above the hand and the hem of the jacket skirt should end abot 2″ above the forward edge of the sleeve cuff and about 3″ above the rear edge of the sleeve cuff. Also note that the belt is worn with the lower edge at the elbow.
German Field Blouse Models 1933-1943: How They Fit.
The German Army introduced a new field blouse (Feldbluse) in 1933 to replace the 1927 model service coat (Dienstrock) that is associated with the “Reichswehr” era. The new blouse gave the German soldier an updated, modern look that was quickly refined by several changes in 1934 and 1935 into the classic “M36″ field blouse; the most famous German uniform of the National Socialist era (with the possible exception of the black SS Dienstanzug). The basic design that was introduced in 1933 and shortened in 1934 was carried forward on virtually all military and Nat’l Socialist Party uniform coats, with the exception of the panzer jacket (Panzerjacke) and the “M44″ field blouse, during the Third Reich.
Above: Note how the skirt of the blouse only covers the top half of the butt. This is because of the downward sloping angle of the skirt. the back is 1.5″ to 2″ higher than the front.
These uniform jackets do not fit anything like a civilian suit or any current service uniform of any nation we know of. The following are the key fitting elements of the WWII German uniform: The overall length is short (please read below for more on this), the arm holes are small and the back is narrow. This gives the wearer the overall feeling of smallness in the arm and shoulder area and a form fitting feeling in the body. This feeling is commonly mistaken by our customers as the jacket size being too small. This is because modern garments (with the exception of fine Italian or European suits) are no longer made to this form fitting method and no one is used to this feeling.
Left: This uniform blouse has a skirt that ends right at the front end of the sleeve cuff and about 1.5″ above e back edge of the cuff. Note belt at elbow and how the lower 2″ of the fly on the trousers shows. Right: Good shot showing the downward sloping angle from back to front on the bottom edge of the skirt. this is the cut of the classic WWII blouse. The low part of the pants pocket is visible.
The Field Blouse is “short!”
The actual goal behind shortening the field blouse was to make it more suitable for wear in a motorized environment by raising the skirt high enough so that the back hem would not touch a vehicle seat and become soiled. Hugo Boss is usually credited/blamed by the popular press for the snappy appearance of Third Reich uniforms, although the present Boss firm, founded by Hugo’s sons after the war, makes the claim that Hugo was merely a sewing contractor.
Left: The height of the skirt-back of the field blouse in this photo is high above the sleeve cuff. Right: Note that the wallet in the right rear pocket of the soldier’s trousers is clearly visible and not covered by the field blouse skirt. Also not that the rear belt hooks are above elbow height.
Whoever the designer was, he was quite an illusionist; instead of merely shortening the M33 field blouse by 6 inches, he reworked the entire garment to create the false impression of greater height. The first step in the process was to raise the sleeve cuff end up from the root knuckle of the thumb to the wrist bone (a full three inches), exposing the entire hand. Then the hem of the skirt front was raised up to the same height from down at the first finger joint (about 6.5 inches). The third step was to raise the back of the skirt another two inches, so only the top half of the butt was covered. Lastly, the belt position was raised the width of the belt, so that the bottom edge of the belt aligned right about bend of the elbow.
Above: The HBT fatigue blouses clearly show the higher back and the longer fronts of the 1934-1944 period. The cut of the wool uniform blouse is identical to these except for the lining and hte pocket arrangement. Note that the trousers pockets are clearly visible. this is the standard German cut.
The resulting uniform was an optical illusion which made every soldier wearing it appear several inches taller than he actually was. The short length of the jacket and the high position of the waist belt fooled the mind’s eye into seeing almost every German soldier as a tall Nordic “superman” with a trim torso and amazingly long legs. Reportedly, the new design was test modeled before groups of women (what we now call “focus groups”) to make sure it would have the desired effect on the opposite sex, thus raising the troops’ morale.
This article was originally posted on www.lostbattalions.com so stop by their site if you have an interest in purchasing military reproduction uniforms.
I have to say and apologies if i’m being over sensitive here but i find this article in very poor taste. To talk about an army that was responsible for wiping out almost 3/4 of my family in the second world war because we are jews on the basis of how well dressed they were is jsut not on.
What next, shall we talk about how nicely turned out the 9/11 bombers were, or how suicide bombers seem to favour nike?
ULSTER IT WAS THE CLOTHES that were being spoken of,,the cut etc,the fact they have linkS stone island design FACT,,,,, not the fookn army or wot they done,,,,, dfrnce with talking next about the 9/11 bombers or summit is that spw doesnt base certain designs on any of these TERRORIST GROUPS
yeah i hear you, but i can’t help look at these people and think murdering fucking bastards, i mean i love spw stuff and can get the reference points but i still think praising the dress of these guys makes me squeamish and is pretty close to the knuckle, also given the content i think it is verging on Stormfront/neo-nazi/skrewdriver territory…
Hi Ulster, I can understand how you may feel, and sorry this article may have upset you.
I have edited the title of the post to make it clear that this is purely about clothing. But as Jamie was saying, the purpose of this piece, is just a look at the ideas behind the clothing design, not the politics or ideology behind what happened in WWII. And if you look at the recent SPW collections, the influence of the German silhouette in a lot of the collections is very evident, especially the cut/length of the many of the jackets. As for the suicide bomber fashions, unfortunately people in the USA already take that far to seriously… Dunkin Donuts pulled a commercial cause people complained the scarf, Rachael Ray was wearing looked too much like a terrorist.
“form follows function”
I admit, it’s not pleasant to see all these pics knowing these people are responsible for death and misery of millions, but as somebody said, it’s just about clothes. SPW found inspiration in numerous armies around the world, and it’s very well explained in this article how German army (and all other armies around the world, I don’t doubt it) wore and designed their uniforms. In this article IMO, there’s no glorification or justification for what they did during the WWII, it just tries to explain the idea and psychology behind uniform designs, something that’s common in all armies/armed forces/police forces/guards etc. around the world.
true true ,but a glorifacation in this day and age ,it makes you out your a unsensitive bstard . sometimes you need to think of what your talking about. seriously whats next polpot had a kracken sock collection, and stalin loved quality jackets .
Didn’t the Beetle have Nazi origins and still become a ‘design’ object.This article is about the origins of SPW clothing design.I don’t think the article was written with any malice, and understanding the process of design is of no use if censored.
Peace.
Off topic but I just want to point out the spelling error in the revised title: ‘ORIGNS’.
Hey found, thanks for your reply, as i said i’m probably a bit oversensitive but this is one of my favourite blogs and i was just a bit ‘what the fuck’ed by the whole piece, particularly the references to nordic supermen and how the ladies loved the uniform. I guess as a jew i just have an inbuilt hostility when it comes to attempts to humanise or compliment these murderers whether for the dress sense or design objects or not. Qwerty i take your point, but the car is an inanimate object, soldiers and their attire is not. Nor was the anti-jewish ethos ground into the central design as far as i am aware, Incidentally my mother drives a beetle.
all soldier are murders thats what they are paid to do.
This article is just about psychological aspect of properly thought out and designed military apparel, both in functionality and appeal.
WWII is basically ancient history, 60+ years old. I guess some people can hold an unjust grudge forever.
The vast majority of the German soldiers were good citizens fighting for their country. Albeit there were a very small minority of soldiers that would fit the description of murderous thugs. You can tell by some of the responses to this article that their are many racist people still lurking about in our civilized society.