A blouson or blouse jacket is a

jacket A jacket is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves, and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, which ...

that is drawn tight at the

waist The waist is the part of the abdomen between the rib cage and hips. On people with slim bodies, the waist is the narrowest part of the torso. ''Waistline'' refers to the horizontal line where the waist is narrowest, or to the general appearan ...

, causing it to blouse out and hang over the

waistband A waistband is a strip of material that is either elastic or some other confining fabric that encircles the waist, usually as a component of clothing such as skirts, trousers, shorts, swimsuits, and undergarments. A waistband can be a complete un ...

. Originating in military uniforms of the mid-

20th century The 20th (twentieth) century began on January 1, 1901 ( MCMI), and ended on December 31, 2000 ( MM). The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: Spanish flu pandemic, World War I and World War II, nuclear ...

, versions continue to be used as part of military and police 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 field uniform, battledress or military fatigues, is a casual type of uniform used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for everyday fieldwork and combat duty purposes, as opposed to dress ...

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 Eisenhower jacket or "Ike" jacket, officially known as the Jacket, Field, Wool, Olive Drab, is a type of waist-length jacket developed for the U.S. Army during the later stages of World War II and named after Dwight D. Eisenhower. Intended ...

. The

MA-1 bomber jacket The MA-1 bomber jacket (also known as the MA-1 flight jacket) is an American military jacket which was developed in the 1950s. The MA-1 and its predecessor, the B-15 flight jacket, were originally developed and needed at that time because the ch ...

was originally designed for the US military during the 1950s. The

MA-2 bomber jacket The MA-2 bomber jacket (also known as the MA-2 flight jacket or CWU-45 flight jacket) is an advanced version derived of the original MA-1 bomber jacket that was originally designed for the American military during the 1950s. ''CWU'' stands for ...

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 jacket A flight jacket is a casual jacket that was originally created for pilots and eventually became part of popular culture and apparel. It has evolved into various styles and silhouettes, including the "letterman" jacket and the fashionable "bomber ...

s have been popular with

skinhead A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...

s and

scooterboy A scooterboy (or scooter boy) is a member of one of several scooter-related subcultures of the 1960s and later decades, alongside rude boys, mods and skinheads. The term is sometimes used as a catch-all designation for any scootering enthusiast ...

s from the 1980s onwards. In 1993, a blouson was worn as the national costume of the United States for the

APEC The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

meeting held in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

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

Gallery

File:Israel 4 021.Israelic Soldier.jpg, An

Israeli Border Police The Israel Border Police ( he, מִשְׁמַר הַגְּבוּל, Mišmar Ha-Gvul) is the gendarmerie and border security branch of the Israel National Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav (), meaning border gu ...

soldier in a fur collared blouson File:Gendarmerie blouson dunkelblau.jpg, An

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n 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 (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Dienstkleidung der Bundeszollverwaltung blouson

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blouson Jackets Coats (clothing)