Dressed to Kill: British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions, 1748-1857

A detailed exploration of naval identity, period
fashion and masculinity.
This fully updated and expanded second edition of
the 2007 publication provides a detailed analysis of
naval uniform and its historical, social and economic
contexts. An extensive catalogue of uniforms from
the collection of the National Maritime Museum
is accompanied by a selection of patterns which
examine the construction of the garments, as well
as personal papers, diaries, fiction and other period
artefacts. Amy Miller demonstrates the significance of
male fashion and uniform in the forging of a national,
hierarchical and gendered identity in the 18th and
19th centuries.
This new edition contains additional research that
provides a greater understanding of the political
and social changes that impacted not only what the
Royal Navy wore, but why they wore it. Parliamentary
records, newspapers and museum archives give a
greater contextualisation of the relationship that naval
uniform represented - that of a confluence of politics
and economics, fashion and popular culture.