Jerkin (garment)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Dudley in a slashed, probably leather, jerkin of the 1560s

A jerkin is a man's short close-fitting jacket, made usually of light-colored leather, and without sleeves, worn over the doublet in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The stock phrase buff jerkin refers to an oiled oxhide jerkin, as worn by soldiers.

Leather jerkins of the sixteenth century were often slashed and punched, both for decoration and to improve the fit.

Jerkins were worn closed at the neck and hanging open over the peascod-bellied fashion of doublet (as worn by Martin Frobisher). At the turn of the seventeenth century, the fashion was to wear the jerkin buttoned at the waist and open above to reflect the fashionable narrow-waisted silhouette (as worn by Sir Walter Raleigh, 1602).

By the mid-seventeenth century, jerkins were high-waisted and long-skirted like doublets of the period.

The origin of the word is unknown. The Dutch wordjurk, a child's frock, often taken as the source, is modern, and represents neither the sound nor the sense of the English word.

During the First World War, the British army issued brown leather jerkins to the troops as a measure to protect against the cold but to allow freedom of movement. These garments had four brass buttons and were lined with khaki wool. They were practical, hardwearing and extremely appreciated by officers and other ranks alike. During the Second World War, the leather jerkins were again issued to all the Commonwealth forces and were universally popular.

The jerkins from the Second World War had bakelite buttons instead of brass and were each unique in that they were finished around the bottom edges with offcuts in a bid to eliminate waste. Incredibly warm and comfortable to wear whilst fighting, working or driving, these drab garments came to characterise the British forces as a preferred alternative to the heavy greatcoats that other armies persisted with.

During the Normandy offensive, American troops had few reasons to feel underprovisioned compared to the Brits and Canadians, but the lack of leather jerkins was one major deficit. US forces fared much worse than their allies during the freezing Ardennes campaign of 1944-45 due to inadequate cold weather gear.

During the post war period, a much less distinctive PVC version was introduced to the forces. WD surplus leather jerkins flooded the UK during the 1950s and 1960s and were a common sight on manual workmen across the country. Wartime vintage leather jerkins are now collector's items, and a UK firm has even lovingly produced a facsimile.

Guardsman's buff jerkin c. 1639 from a painting by Frans Hals.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Janet Arnold: Patterns of Fashion: the cut and construction of clothes for men and women 1560-1620, Macmillan 1985. Revised edition 1986. (ISBN 0-89676-083-9)