Female Dress Blues
I am not one to gripe... but whoever designed the female uniform was not female and was uncomfortable with looking at a sexy female form in uniform!! Here is the dress blues for female officers on the right. It is shapeless AND the rank is smaller than on a male uniform. Hmph. I have sergeant stripes on both arms, again smaller than on a male's uniform. They have recently changed it so the female rank is not miniscule, however it is still smaller than the male counterpart uniform.
The skirt is A-line. Again shapeless. Even the Dress Mess which is the shortwaisted jacket paired with a long A-line skirt is shapeless and ugly. The shirt for the females has a long flowing ruffled front (hides the boobs I imagine) and a short little triangular shaped black tie at the neck. The males wear both jackets (Dress Blues and Dress Mess) with the lighter blue pants
with the gold braid down the side. VERY impressive. The shirt is a form fitting white shirt with a bow tie. If I was king?? I would shape the skirt like a sheath with a high kick pleat in the back. I would lose the ruffled front 70's disco rented tuxedo shirt and have a tailored (fitted) white shirt with a BOW TIE. Think Barbie in unifrom! LOL. The uniform should complement the female shape while maintaining Military bearing. It shouldn't HIDE the fact that we are female.Anyway, I wear my uniform with pride and within regulations. How does that saying go??? "Mine is not to ask why, mine is to do or die."
posted by SGT Lori at 20:04
4 Comments:
I'm curious how much of it has to do with the need to have a uniform appearance on a gender where there is a very un-uniform distribution of shape. The male body has a very simple, tapered look. Broad in the shoulders tapering down. However the female body can come in a greater variety of shapes. A jacket that would look good on a more... endowed... woman wouldn't look as good on one that wasn't a top heavy, and vice versa.
If you were willing to spend the money to do so it's possible to have a set of blues or greens tailored to a very professional, yet attractive fit. However such alterations are... iffy... as far as regulations go, and it's expensive to do.
I've never thought the uniforms were hiding the fact you were female (the skirts gives it away), however I think they simply split the baby and decided that, rather than attempt to design a uniform that will only look good on a portion of the Soldiers who would wear they, they made one that ensures that everyone doesn't look good.
While I totally agree that a sheath skirt would only look good on a woman with smaller hips.... I think the female uniform is UGLY. Splitting the baby indeed! :-)
Although I've got to admit, I'd be THRILLED just to be able to wear the uniform, I've got to admit... The female uniforms (dress, specifically) are pretty awful.
I definitely agree on the mess dress. FUGLY. But then again, I have never been anywhere that required me to own or wear a set of mess dress.
I do disagree on the Dress Blues. They can be a very nice looking uniform - if you're willing to put in the extra money to have them tailored to fit you properly.
And I definitely disagree that an A line skirt is "shapeless". It's actually one of the few cuts that look decent on most people (as opposed to, say, pencil skirts). Getting the right size and having the damn thing tailored to conform to the female body helps a lot.
I think the modern Blues are actually still essentially the same cut than the World War II women's dress uniforms were (although *those* were wool, brown, and - having owned an original set - WAY more comfortable).
You want to see a truly ugly uniform that does NOT take the shape of the female form into account? Take a look at the new Air Force blues - http://mcnabb.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/f_ha1_1.jpg
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