Embodying the military: Uniforms

Abstract

Abstract It is difficult to disentangle masculinity from military uniforms. Amid the shifting notions of gender in the late eighteenth century, this article argues that ‘techniques of the body’ were employed by the military, contributing to what became the hegemonic shape of the modern male body. Framing the work within the theories of Marcel Mauss this article uses the case study of Beau Brummell to argue that this dandy based his dress on something more than the vestmentary surface. Brummell’s story is rare for a male in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century: his life was described through his dress practices. Traditionally, when fashion is discussed, it is through women’s fashion, although this is rapidly shifting. Very little writing on military uniforms is about embodied practice. Dressing is an embodied activity located in specified temporal, spatial and hierarchical relations. This article addresses this gap.