Dressed to Kill: British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions, 1748-1857

Dressed to Kill is a unique and detailed analysis of naval uniform and its historical, social and economic contexts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This fully updated and expanded second edition examines the significance of male fashion and uniform in the forging of a national, hierarchical and gendered identity.

By drawing upon extensive archival research, Amy Miller provides a greater explanation of the political and social changes that impacted not only what the Royal Navy wore, but why. Parliamentary records, newspapers and museum archives give a greater contextualisation of the relationship that naval uniform represented - that of a confluence of politics and economics, fashion and popular culture. Beautifully illustrated throughout, Dressed to Kill 2nd Edition is accompanied by an extensive catalogue of uniforms from the rich collection of the National Maritime Museum and a selection of patterns that examine the construction of the garments.This new edition contains additional research that provides a greater understanding of the political and social changes that impacted not only what the Royal Navy wore, but why they wore it. Parliamentary records, newspapers and museum archives give a greater contextualisation of the relationship that naval uniform represented - that of a confluence of politics and economics, fashion and popular culture.