Re: Blazer Fabrics and Buttons

[antongiavanni]

Strictly speaking, I believe that the story of H.M.S. Blazer has
been neither confirmed nor disproved. The story, in brief, was that
said ship was up for a royal inspection, and that captain thought
his crew looked awful. In particular, he was dismayed by their
habit of wiping their noses on their jacket sleeves. He outfitted
them all with blue coats. The metal buttons on the sleeves were
meant to discourage nose blowing.

I researched this somewhat extensively a few years back for my book,
and could not get a definitive answer. There definitely was a
common blue serge naval coat that was common before it became
exactly required as a uniform. But the story of the Blazer may well
be apocryphal. The other explanation for the term 'blazer' is that
originated from brightly colored, awning-striped cricket coats which
were said to 'blaze.' This one is simply impossible to confirm or
disprove.

That said, I agree that the true blazer is DB. In my opinion, the
perfect blazer is DB, 4 on 2, with short side vents and open patch
pockets, in doeskin or serge or hopsack, in a kind of dull slate-
navy, rather than a shiny blue or a true midnight navy.