Why Were The Nazis So Well-Dressed?

Smartly pressed and immaculately presented, the Nazis loved their uniforms. For the Nazi mindset, the uniform demonstrated discipline and status and was used as part of the propaganda effort to give their dream of a new, super-Germany a sense of fashion and style. Some embraced this more than others with perhaps the most notable connoisseur of fine clothing being Hermann Goering, the head of the Luftwaffe who was known to have specially tailored, flamboyant uniforms made for himself, but fashion played more of a role in Nazi culture than one might first believe. In this episode we are going to explore the importance and some of the history behind the Nazi obsession with uniforms. Welcome to Wars of the World.

00:00 Introduction
01:11 The Swastika and the Brown Shirts
06:18 My Honour is Loyalty
10:10 Fashion in Nazi Society
16:34 War Uniforms
20:39 Nazi Chic

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🎶🎶 All music from CO.AG

Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins
Edited by: James Wade

History Should Never Be Forgotten...

[johnnixon]

Politics aside, an SS officer's uniform is about the sharpest set of threads ever.

[BOEHHO]

The uniforms made these guys look legitimate .

[Dfturcott]

They were so stylish, that American and British rock stars decades after, axl rose, jimmy page, lemmy kilmeister, Marilyn Manson, etc, would openly wear officer hats and other paraphernalia in photos and on stage and people just go, ”well yeah it looks so bad ass.”

[Official_jameslby]

As a re-enactor for the us paratroopers, I can tell you that the reason places turn down german forces is due to people being offended by history. The point of these re-enactments however is to educate those who either need to know more or want to know more about the history that shapes the world today

[AllTheSmoke]

Everybody in I'd say the 20's through the 50's knew how to and did dress well

[snuggles]

They may have lost the war, but they won the fashion parade

[BwInNewJersey]

Easy answer; we are still talking about them in 2023.

[LoneWolf]

At the time it was common to be well dressed, almost everyone wore suits

[madtrucker]

Say what you want about the Nazis. They were snappy dressers.

[BELCAN]

Generally, everyone in the West dressed much better than today. Take a look at film taken during baseball games in the 30's and 40's. Men wore either suits, sport coats or at least dress shirts and ties.

[PhotoTrekr]

You gotta admit, they did have good looking uniforms. But, I've also read that they were impractical, not very good at keeping cold out, and of course, by wars end, not available to the troops. US uniforms on the other hand were practical, functional, and available.

[Markv]

Nazism was all about perception, not reality.

For example, even though Germany mostly used horses for transport and mobilization, Hitler ordered his photographers to avoid showing them. Most German war films only show mechanized forces.

A WW2 soldier may not fight good, but he sure looked good.

[Born_Free_Die_Happy]

Two words: Hugo Boss.

The fine clothing company was literally founded as the official Nazi uniform supplier.

[matthewmagda]

"From the beginning of time, the bad guys always had the best uniforms. Napoleon, the Confederates, the Nazis." -Lemmy

[OctaviusAu]

The Swastika is a cultural and religious symbol which belongs to the Indoeuropean populations. As an Historian and Archaeologist I can teach you that this symbol Is found in all Indoeuropean cultures: among the Hittites, you can find A LOT of Swastikas in the Greek pottery, even the most famous artistic Greek decoration, the Meander, Is a demi-swastika actually. You can still see a lot of Swastikas in Roman mosaics and Basilicas, and it was used as an ornament on the Roman tunics at the beginning of the Christian Era. The Swastika is well documented in the Celtic jewllery both continental and insular (Britain). This symbol was also wide spread among Germanic, Baltic and Slavic populations, and, finally, among the Aryans who invaded the Iranian plateau and Northern India. The meaning of the Swastika and its sister symbol, the Triscele, is the representation of the eternal Cycle of Time and Seasons: birth-life-death-rebirth; spring-summer-fall-winter.
The National Socialist Party adopted it when they came in contact with some exoterical sects, notably the Thesophic and the Ariosophic societies, composed by fremasons, orientalist scholars and archaeologists.
To say, like in this video, that the symbol was borrowed by Far Asian civilizations is a Great absurdity, since it happened exactly the opposite. The spreading of Induism and, more important, of Buddhism (both religious beliefs originated in the Aryan India) in Eastern Asia made possibile for not Indoeuropean nations like the Chinese, the Koreans, Japan and even the Mongols to adopt this religious symbol.
The National Socialists adopted the Swastika as their main symbol just because it is typical of all Indoeuropean peoples, the so called "Aryan" race.
Next time, before making video like this and spreading misinformation in a society already plagued by a lot of ignorance, I do suggest studying a lot and read some Real books.

[theo]

Well, you overlooked the use of the swastika by Freikorps units after WWI, which were also used by WWI pilots, and later adopted by the NS. Their adoption of the symbol had nothing to do with the eastern use of it.

[patgray]

I don't know but modern militaries should take note.

[inblack-dd]

All in all, the Germans have been always very civilized, hardworking people with a good taste in everything not only in dress and uniforms

[LactusTheIntolerant]

I will miss the old narrator but this new one has my backing!

[fortunatejeremy]

Sharp miltary uniforms were a European tradition, especially Prussian tradition. The Nazis co-opted this uniform tradition as well as many symbols and colours as a way of appearing legitimate. Clean and well deessed soldiers were the norm, so much so that German civilians were shocked by how filthy and unshaven American soldiers were.