kalipygian
Expert Member
Nearly all modern uniforms are so drabbed down as to be totally boring, in the US, the only ones with any elegance are the marine dress tunic with the upright collar, I have a marine band uniform the same cut that is scarlet with gold braid on the front. When Nixon was president, he gave the White House guard a similar one that was all white, sadly, it wasn't kept.
My favorite contemporay one is the British Royal Horse Guards state kit.
Before WWI, military uniforms were much more decorative than civilian dress, my favorite is the Hussar uniform, formerly worn with skin tight pants, and ends above the butt. I have Austro-Hungarian, Prussian, French, Spanish, and British hussar tunics, Victorian royal navy tailcoat, Edwardian Royal Fusiliers full dress tunic (need a bearskin to go with it, but they go for too much), Crimean War period British rifle tunic (ends above the waist, I wear it with nothing underneath) Etc.. The British mess dress style tunic also ends above the waist and doesn't join in the front, I have a scarlet Canadian one from the 50's that came with a scarlet lined short cloak.
My favorite contemporay one is the British Royal Horse Guards state kit.
Before WWI, military uniforms were much more decorative than civilian dress, my favorite is the Hussar uniform, formerly worn with skin tight pants, and ends above the butt. I have Austro-Hungarian, Prussian, French, Spanish, and British hussar tunics, Victorian royal navy tailcoat, Edwardian Royal Fusiliers full dress tunic (need a bearskin to go with it, but they go for too much), Crimean War period British rifle tunic (ends above the waist, I wear it with nothing underneath) Etc.. The British mess dress style tunic also ends above the waist and doesn't join in the front, I have a scarlet Canadian one from the 50's that came with a scarlet lined short cloak.