A blouson or blouse jacket is a jacket that is drawn tight at the waist, causing it to blouse out and hang over the waistband. Originating in military uniforms of the mid-20th century, versions continue to be used as part of military, paramilitary and law enforcement uniforms in many places. As a piece of civilian clothing, it is considered to be both sportswear and casual clothing.

History

During World War II, British soldiers wore

Battledress A combat uniform, also called a field uniform, battledress, or fatigues, is a casual wear, casual uniform used by military, police, firefighter, fire, and other public uniformed services for everyday fieldwork and duty, as opposed to dress uni ...

uniforms that featured a jacket with an integrated belt to cinch the jacket tightly at the waist. These in turn inspired the creation of the United States Army's M-1944 field jacket, better known after its principal advocate as the Eisenhower jacket. The MA-1 bomber jacket was originally designed for the US military during the 1950s. The MA-2 bomber jacket has now taken its place. The ''Black jacket'' was popularized by Yves Saint Laurent and was donned by some music groups in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Modern flight jackets have been popular with

skinhead A skinhead or skin is a member of a subculture that originated among working-class youth in London, England, in the 1960s. It soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working-class skinhead movement emerging worldwide i ...

s and scooterboys from the 1980s onwards. In 1993, a blouson was worn as the national costume of the United States for the APEC meeting held in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington. In the early 2000s, the jacket was popular casual wear in hip hop fashion.

Raid jacket

A Raid Jacket is a garment typically worn by law enforcement officers and agents. It is similar to a baseball jacket in appearance but without the elasticated waist/collar and fastened with press studs.

Gallery

File:WW2 British Battle Dress Newsmap Vol 1 No 17 1942-08-17 US Government National Archives NARA Unrestricted Public domain 26-nm-1-17 002.jpg, Advert for Battledress File:Jacket, battledress (AM 1979.59-1).jpg, NZ issue Battledress jacket File:Israel 4 021.Israelic Soldier.jpg, An Israeli Border Police soldier in a fur collared blouson File:Gendarmerie blouson dunkelblau.jpg, An Austrian Gendarmerie blousonhttp://www.sbg.ac.at/ver/links/bgbl/2004b529.pdf Image:Bomber jacket.jpg, A modern fashion blouson/bomber jacket File:Blouson custom.jpg, A

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

style blouson File:Zollmuseum HH Dienstkleidung Bundeszollverwaltung.jpg, A

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Dienstkleidung der Bundeszollverwaltung blouson

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blouson Jackets Coats (clothing)