stripey stripe.

Sorry about all the boring posts. I just like to gaze at pretty things. I'm going to try out a few fashion history type posts because I just read a book on the history of stripes (The Devil's Cloth). I have to say I've read just about all I'll ever want to about stripes and their background. And most of it was quite interesting and I'll try to convey all the intriguing bits for you here.

First off, stripes were considered risque, gaudy, and generally bad by the medieval people. Before then the story is cloudy. I know that Romans liked stripes (at least single ones to distinguish senators and the like) and perhaps the story is different for other countries, but the Europeans were not fans. Stripes were used to label criminals, prostitutes, and fools. Then along came these Carmelite monks who wore stripes on their robes that they claimed signified the places were someone's robe was burnt as he walked through fire. 

Picture this except with dirty white stripes. These monks were ordered to stop with the scandalous stripes and eventually gave into peer pressure and switched to brown. Stripes continued to be thought of poorly but later on when family crests came into fashion stripes were used for bad knights, seedy characters, and illegitimate sons.

This would be a bad guy.

After the medieval folks the revolutionary stripes rose to popularity. First the Americans started the striped clothing boom. They adopted stripes for the flag and then transferred the design to clothes to display their patriotism. Stripes had already served to distinguish and separate one group from the rest of society and what better way to stand out then to adopt the pattern that the enemy associated with criminals and no-good-niks.

Picture the dress as less Miss America, more petticoat and the pants as less crazy karate, more colonial dandy.

This would be a sick pattern to have on a tailcoat or vest. (Sorry for the lack of pictures. The book had a few good examples but Google is lacking.)

After the American Revolution, the French popularized stripes with their revolution. Red white and blue rosettes and stripes were on everything from hats to socks.

Somehow or other stripes got adopted by sailors. Most likely because stripes were just plain easy to pick out. Then when people started gamboling about the beach in the early days, stripes migrated from sailor uniforms to bathing gear. And then, wonder of wonders, stripes migrated to hygienic things. Like sheets and socks and undergarments and even toothpaste.

Now stripes are on everything and often are still associated with the nautical world. 

So that's my little spiel. 

All that info and more is more eloquently written about here.