A blazer is a type of jacket

Jacket

A jacket is a hip- or waist-length garment for the upper body. A jacket typically has sleeves, and fastens in the front. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, which is outerwear...

. The term blazer occasionally is synonymous with boating jacket and sports jacket, two different garments. A blazer resembles a suit coat cut more casually — sometimes with flap-less patch pockets and metal buttons. A blazer's cloth is usually durable (14oz.), because it is an outdoor sports jacket. Stylistically, blazers often are uniform

Uniform

A uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools and by inmates...

 garments, e.g. for airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

, school

School

A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

, and yachting

Yacht club

A yacht club is a sports club specifically related to sailing and yachting.-Description:Yacht Clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there are some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations...

, and rowing

Sport rowing

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

 clubs.

A blazer

Blazer

A blazer is a type of jacket. The term blazer occasionally is synonymous with boating jacket and sports jacket, two different garments. A blazer resembles a suit coat cut more casually — sometimes with flap-less patch pockets and metal buttons. A blazer's cloth is usually durable , because it is an...

 is generally distinguished from a sports jacket

Sportcoat

A sportcoat, sports coat or sports jacket, is a tailored jacket for men. Though it is of a similar cut and length to a suit jacket there are many differences. First, it is less formal. Also it is designed to be worn on its own and does not come as part of a suit...

 as a more formal garment and tailored from solid color fabrics. Blazers are often made with naval-style metal buttons, reflecting their historic boating club association, but this is not a defining feature.

Wearing a blazer

Blazers are worn with wide variety of other clothes, ranging from a shirt

Dress shirt

A shirt, or dress shirt in American English, is a garment with a collar, a full-length opening at the front from the collar to the hem, and sleeves with cuffs. Shirts are predominantly used by men, since women usually wear blouses...

 and tie

Necktie

A necktie is a long piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck or shoulders, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat. Variants include the ascot tie, bow tie, bolo tie, and the clip-on tie. The modern necktie, ascot, and bow tie are descended from the cravat. Neck...

 to an open-necked polo shirt. They are seen with trousers of all colours, from the classic white cotton or linen, to grey flannel, to brown or beige chinos as well as jeans.

A fitted, classically-cut, double-breasted navy blue blazer with navy-style buttons is a popular design and sometimes referred to as "reefer" blazer. Particularly in North America and the United Kingdom, it is now frequently used in business casual

Business casual

Business casual is a popular dress code in professional and white-collar workplaces in Western countries. In the United States, 43% of non-self-employed workers commonly wear casual business attire. Casual street wear is the next most common work attire , closely followed by uniforms...

 and business informal

Informal attire

Informal attire, also called international business attire or Western business attire is a dress code, typified by a suit and necktie, for men. On the scale of formality, informal attire is more formal than casual but less formal than semi-formal. It is more presentational than semi-casual, but...

 wear and by some as suitable attire for any situation.

Blazers are worn as part of school uniform

School uniform

A school uniform is an outfit—a set of standardized clothes—worn primarily for an educational institution. They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries . When used, they form the basis of a school's dress code.Traditionally school uniforms have been largely subdued and...

 by many schools across the Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

, and in a wide range of colours is still daily wear for most uniformed pupils in Britain and Australia. These are blazers in the traditional sense, single breasted often of bright colours or with piping

Piping (sewing)

In sewing, piping is a type of trim or embellishment consisting of a strip of folded fabric inserted into a seam to define the edges or style lines of a garment or other textile object. Usually the fabric strip is cut on the bias, and often it is folded over a cord...

. This style is also worn by some boat clubs, such as those in Cambridge or Oxford, with the piped version only on special occasions such as a boat club dinner. In this case, the piping is in college colours, and college buttons are worn. This traditional style can be seen in many films set in the Edwardian era, such as Kind Hearts and Coronets

Kind Hearts and Coronets

Kind Hearts and Coronets is a 1949 British black comedy feature film. The plot is loosely based on the 1907 novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman, with the screenplay written by Robert Hamer and John Dighton and the film directed by Hamer...

.

Where the blazer is part of the dress of a school, college, sports club, or armed service veterans' association, it is normal for a badge to be sewn to the breast pocket. In schools, this may vary according to the student's standing in the school; whether a member of the junior or senior school, being a prefect

Prefect

Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....

 or having been awarded colours, in recognition of particular achievement in some academic or sporting field. In the Commonwealth, many regimental associations (veterans' organisations) wear 'regimental blazers' which also sport a similar badge on the breast pocket, usually in the form of a wire badge, and sometimes also regimental blazer buttons. In the British army officers do not normally wear badges on their blazers (or boating jackets). Any two regimental blazers will very rarely be the same, as they are made up from different civilian sources and are not issued by any authority. This has come to be representative of the fact that the members of the association are now civilians, but retain the bond that the badge represents. The standard colour is navy blue, although in some associations different colours are worn, such as rifle green for the associations of rifle regiments.

Blazers, once commonly worn playing or attending traditional 'gentlemen's sports', persist in only some games now, such as occasional use by tennis players, or cricket, where in professional matches, such as international test matches, it is considered customary for the captain to wear a blazer with the team's logo or national coat of arms on the breast pocket, at least during the coin toss at the beginning of the match.

Two sporting events where blazers signify victory are the Congressional Cup Regatta at the Long Beach Yacht Club, and the Masters Golf tournament, held in Augusta, Georgia. The former event awards a crimson blazer to the winner of several flights of match race sailing of the highest international caliber, while the latter awards a green blazer to the top masters golfer in the USA.

History

The sartorial term blazer originated with the red 'blazers' of the Lady Margaret Boat Club

Lady Margaret Boat Club

The Lady Margaret Boat Club , is the rowing club for members of St John's College, Cambridge, England. The club is named after Lady Margaret Beaufort, foundress of the College.- History :...

 (1825), the rowing club of St. John's College, Cambridge. The Lady Margaret club jackets were termed blazers because of the bright red cloth; the term survived the original red coat. A writer to the London Daily News (22 Aug 1889) commented that "In your article of to-day‥you speak of ‘a striped red and black blazer’, ‘the blazer’, also of ‘the pale toned’ ones.‥ A blazer is the red flannel boating jacket worn by the Lady Margaret, St. John's College, Cambridge, Boat Club. When I was at Cambridge it meant that and nothing else. It seems from your article that a blazer now means a coloured flannel jacket, whether for cricket, tennis, boating, or seaside wear.""

These early blazers were like later sports jackets, but this term has never referred to blazers, instead describing jackets derived from the later innovation of wearing odd jackets for land-based sports. Assertions that the name is derived from HMS Blazer are not borne out by contemporary sources, although it is reported that before the standardisation of uniform in the Royal Navy, the crew of HMS Blazer wore "striped blue and white jackets", apparently in response to the sailors of HMS Harlequin

HMS Harlequin

Five vessels of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Harlequin. was a schooner of 14 guns, purchased in 1796 and still listed in 1802. was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of 18 guns, launched in 1813 and sold in Jamaica in 1829. was an American gunboat captured at the Battle of Lake Borgne on 14 December...

 being turned out in harlequin

Harlequin

Harlequin or Arlecchino in Italian, Arlequin in French, and Arlequín in Spanish is the most popularly known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte and its descendant, the Harlequinade.-Origins:...

 suits. As late as 1845 the gig's crew of HMS Blazer were dressed by their Captain in jackets of blue and white stripes and it is from this that the word "Blazer", meaning a striped jacket, has crept into the language.

The reefer jacket was of naval origin, and described the short double breasted jacket worn by sailors in harsh weather, when they perform duties such as reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....

ing the sails. It is descendants of this which are now commonly described by the term blazer. Originally with black horn buttons, these jackets evolved to the modern dark blazer, now single as well as double breasted, and with metallic buttons.

Striped blazers became popular among British Mods in the early 1960s, and again during the Mod revival

Mod Revival

The mod revival was a music genre and subculture that started in England in 1978 and later spread to other countries . The mod revival's mainstream popularity was relatively short, although its influence has lasted for decades...

 of the late 1970s — particularly in three-colour thick/thin stripe combinations, with three-button single breasted front, five or six inch side or centre vents and sleeve-cuffs with multi-buttons. Various photos from 1964 and 1965 show London mods in boating blazers. Photos of mod icons The Who

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

 from 1964 (as the High Numbers) variously show Pete Townshend

Pete Townshend

Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...

, Keith Moon

Keith Moon

Keith John Moon was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon...

 and John Entwistle

John Entwistle

John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...

 wearing boating blazers. Another mod band, Small Faces, and other bands liked by mods — such as The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

, The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

, The Kinks

The Kinks

The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...

, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames

Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames

Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames were a noted British rhythm and blues/soul/jazz/ska/pop group of the 1960s. They had been the backing band for Billy Fury but, after being dismissed at the end of 1961, their pianist Georgie Fame took over as vocalist and they went on to enjoy great...

, The Animals

The Animals

The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...

, The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds

- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...

, The Moody Blues and The Troggs

The Troggs

The Troggs are an English rock band from the 1960s that had a number of hits in UK and the US. Their most famous songs include, "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You", and "Love Is All Around"...

 — had band members wearing striped blazers/boating jackets or later, brightly-coloured blazers with wide white or other light edging. Buttons on these later blazers often became non-metal, sometimes in the same colour as the edging. The earlier style of striped blazers can be seen in the film Quadrophenia

Quadrophenia (film)

Quadrophenia is a 1979 British film, loosely based around the 1973 rock opera of the same name by The Who. The film stars Phil Daniels as a Mod named Jimmy. It was directed by Franc Roddam in his feature directing debut...

. The later bright style of blazer was affectionately adopted by Austin Powers as part of his Swinging London

Swinging London

Swinging London is a catch-all term applied to the fashion and cultural scene that flourished in London, in the 1960s.It was a youth-oriented phenomenon that emphasised the new and modern. It was a period of optimism and hedonism, and a cultural revolution. One catalyst was the recovery of the...

look.