“Great War Fashion: Tales from the History Wardrobe” by Lucy Adlington
The following is an excerpt:
When war broke out, it was seen as man’s work…That women could be entitled to uniforms and decorations of their own took some time to filter up to the highest levels of the armed services, and down to the widest reaches of public opinion. It was understandable. Women had barely been seen in uniforms before, save for religious habits, Nightingale’s nurses and the sprightly bonnets of the Salvation Army. Girls at private schools and grammars had to wear uniform, and there was the smart get-up of the new Girl Guides, but the rash of new organizations that sprang up with war all jostled to create their identity through uniform. From the beginning of the war, organizations such as the Women’s Legion fell back on quasi-military styles as they designed uniforms. The next four years saw an unprecedented opportunity for women to adopt some of the status, duty and sense of belonging represented by uniforms.
