Marinière
A marinière (French pronunciation: [maʁinjɛʁ]), or tricot rayé (French: [tʁiko ʁɛje], "striped sweater"), is a cotton long-armed shirt with horizontal blue and white stripes. Characteristically worn by quartermasters and seamen in the French Navy, it has become a staple in civilian French fashion. It is also known as a Breton shirt, as many sailors in the French Navy were from Brittany and, especially outside France, this kind of striped garment is often part of the stereotypical image of a French person.
Regulations of 27 March 1858 introduced the blue-and-white marinière to the French Navy's official uniform for seamen, describing it thus:
A genuine marinière has, front and back, twenty navy blue stripes each 10 millimetres (0.4 in) wide, spaced 20 millimetres (0.8 in) apart, and on the sleeves fourteen navy blue stripes spaced the same. The three-quarter-length sleeves must be no longer than those of the overjacket, and the flared collar must reach the neck.
The "Tricot bleu de service courant Marine nationale" ("French Navy Standard Duty Blue Jersey") is part of Uniforms 22bis and 23.
Sailors used to say that the stripes made it easier to see men who had fallen into the sea.
Marinières were made by independent tailors, but eventually were made in navy workshops; army tailoring was a separate duty, often performed by conscripts. Marinières became a large product in France, manufactured by companies such as Saint James, Armor Lux and Orcival.
Since the 19th century, the telnyashka has been a characteristic part of the Russian Navy uniform.
Although it originated in the Navy, the marinière has been an important fashion item ever since. During the First World War, Coco Chanel regularly took seaside holidays and was inspired by the local sailors' uniforms. At her second shop in Deauville she launched the "Navy Style", a short marinière. In doing so she continued the emancipation of women's bodies and the "practical" side of her creations, by using simple jersey fabric during times of privation. Her marinières became widespread luxury items. Years later, Karl Lagerfield paid homage to House of Chanel by regularly recreating the marinière for his fashion shows, especially in his ready-to-wear summer collection "Croisière".
...
Wikipedia