Are you curious about French style? You might have asked yourself why the striped sailor’s tee shirt, called a marinière in French, came to be such an emblematic symbol of French fashion.
In 1858, a mandate released by the Notice Officiel des Armées stated that the tricot (coat) was to end up being the official uniform of the French Navy. Right now, the measurements of the stripes that the seafarers had to put on were provided to the exact millimetre: “21 straight white stripes of 20mm as well as 20 or 21 horizontal blue stripes of 10mm”. It is claimed that this easy weaved was introduced to make sailors who fall in the sea visible.
Since 1889, this top has been made by Saint James, a brand from Normandy that had the foresight to make this striped top its trademark garment.
Right now, as well as also earlier, stripes had some extremely unfavorable connotations connected to convicts, crazy individuals, woman of the streets as well as individuals from reduced social classes. In the Middle Ages, red stripes were also associated with the adversary. In short, at that time, stripes upset the correct order of culture.
Just a few years later on the tricot rayé (candy striped coat), as it was originally called, a silver lining was added. It made its initial entry in the prêt-à-porter thanks to the clever eye of a pioneer in fashion, Gabrielle Bonheur, known as Coco Chanel.
In 1913, Coco Chanel saw a few navy sailors in Normandy while on a seaside walk with her companion. Her creative thinking as well as audacity attracted all classes and the style was embraced by French society.
Coco wasn’t the only person to be motivated by the candy striped sailor top; it later made an appearance in the world of movie theater. The marinière starred in Jean-Luc Godard’s motion pictures during the Nouvelle Vague– a French cinematographic movement at the end of the 1950s. In 1963, in Le Mépris (Contempt) Brigitte Bardot posed wearing her marinière, providing it a glamorous twist.
The candy striped sailor top also crossed the ocean to Hollywood and also showed up in American movie theaters in the film The Wild One with Marlon Brando.
Also a lot more remarkable is the appeal of the stripes on James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. Even Marilyn Monroe gave up her hot dresses for a moment to use the characteristic top.
In terms of couture, Yves Saint-Laurent presented his nautical-themed collection in the 1960s. But it was Jean-Paul Gaultier who actually increased the success of the seafarer red stripes with his Boy Plaything collection in 1983. Having fun with shapes and products, Gaultier attracted ideas from his childhood memories of wearing a marinière. It also became the muse for his men’s fragrance Le Mâle, which features the stripes on the male-torso-shaped bottle.
The stripes have actually influenced countless various other fashion leaders, such as Hermès, Prada as well as Comme des Garçons. It also made it onto the soccer area in Nike’s 2011 collection for the French football team. Lots of musicians, such as Picasso, Colette as well as Marcel Marceau, have been the perfect ambassadors for the stripes also.
The seafarer stripes will continue to inspire, be changed and surprise us due to the fact that it is a classic style item that has actually truly captured the hearts of the French.