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Women's naval clothing


dustin
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This is a collage of clothing I picked up from an estate sale yesterday with some unusual aspects that I cannot put my finger on so I was hoping others can share some insight. There are two dress jackets with skirts and two different rankings and what looks to be a navy nurse crop device on cuff. Both garments are tailor made. The selection of caps are interesting primarily the the one with cap device which is bullion. The black band is sewn to the white cover and has no holes on the sides. Being unfamiliar with naval women's caps does this slip over something or worn like that? And input or options appreciated.

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Excellent, thank you. I just never run across women's items very often.

The garrison caps seem to be men's? Or ....post-56-0-14224200-1402851365.jpg

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Excellent, thank you. I just never run across women's items very often.

The garrison caps seem to be men's? Or ....attachicon.gifimage.jpg

yep, men's caps. Is the top one white? If so, it is relatively rare as they were extremely unpopular and not much used. The middle one was worn during WW2with blues ad the lower one was worn with Aviation Greens.
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Thanks for the input. Yes the top one is white, I have found dozens of blue, grey and black naval garrison caps thinking white seems to be illusive.

There seemed to be a rich naval history within the family and after showing up late to the party other uniforms and such might have been bought up. At least one male family member was part of the Dental Corp in 1919 as stated on the discharge and a photo which they were asking a crazy price for.

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It's a very nice group, and yes, the white garrison caps are hard to find. They were disliked as they looked just WAAAAYYYYYY too much like a Soda Jerk uniform, or any other white uniform worn by civilians at the time, Ice Cream Man, Milk Man, it was just a bit too much for the old crusty Chiefs and Officers to bear along with all the "Civilianizing" going on in the Navy during the war, so most chose to ignore that little item. Plus, whites had already fallen out of use in favor of the khakis any way.. Whites were pretty much reserved for really formal dress up occasions (for Chiefs and Officers any way). The white garrison cap was for service dress, basically working, so most had mom use for it.

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Actually, the garrision caps may be female--although the women did wear the men's hats....to be "pure" women's hats --look for two things:

 

Size: they should be marked 20 through 23.5 as the size

Lining: If they have a silk lining and a big stamp "Knox" then they are also women's....this is not a requirement since they were also private purchase.

If the size says 6-high 7s, then it is a men's hat that was used by women given the grouping

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Thanks for the input Squidres, the garrison caps stayed with the grouping suspecting they were actually hers and their sizes are the range you stated. I picked the grouping up for a collector friend in mind and now is in his hands/collection. He has a vast women's service section and apparently has very little naval items so this was a welcomed grouping and with a good home.

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memphis_belle

I'd say all of your garrison caps are female.

The navy nurse's garrison cap was available in white, navy blue and gray in order to match different uniforms. It had a straight envelope cut styled after the male officer version. In appearance, it was unlike the banana-shaped female garrison caps of other military servicewomen's organizations. The miniature navy officer's cap insignia was pinned onto the cap's left side and miniature pin-on navy rank was placed on the right side.

Your uniform is the blue service dress which was introduced in 1942. It was worn with a white shirt, black tie, black stockings (beige ones were approved at the end of 1944) and black oxford-style shoes in conjunction with the outdoor cap with blue (blue service dress A) or white (blue service dress B) cover or the blue garrison cap.

In 1944, the blue service dress C was introduced to give more flexibility in outdoor uniform choices, and combined the blue service dress uniform coat with the white uniform skirt + white shoes, outdoor cap with white cover, black or beige hose and white gloves. The blue garrison cap was also permitted with this particular uniform © attire.

 

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Blue Service Dress A with blue garrison caps

 

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Blue Service Dress B

 

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Blue Service Dress - White Outdoor Uniform - Gray Working Uniform

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The bullion insignia was the preferred device on the hat I had to be sewn to the band. The normal snap on band takes the sterling eagle and anchor, but is quite clunky and heavy. Very frequent personal modificaiton

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