The measure of warmth
A rival type of slouch hat which flopped down all round was used by the ancient Greeks. Looped on one side it was worn by the Cavaliers of the British Civil War, looped on three sides it became the cocked hat of the eighteenth century, and on two sides, of the Napoleonic era, surviving in diplomatic uniforms and those of naval officers and civic functionaries. Looped on one side again it was worn in the American Civil War, and by British Africanders and Australasians. Softened and not looped it replaced the stiff-brimmed Stetson on the American range.
Shirt and breeches
SHIRT. It was among the Eskimo that I learned the philosophy of the shirt. These very practical folk wear a hooded shirt, close-fitting at the throat, wrists and waist. For summer the material is cotton or serge, for winter the warmest furs; but in any case it forms a bag of air warmed by the body. The shirt then consists of an outer garment of skin or a textile fabric, and an inner garment of heated air protecting the vital organs. Opened at neck and wrists it is the coolest of garments, closed it is the warmest for any given weight. In contrast a coat or jacket is open at the bottom, the front, the neck and the wrists, so that four times the weight is needed to produce the warmth of a shirt.
Military dress is always a belated copy of the civil costume in each period.
It is designed by a contractor whose motive is to obtain the handling of public money. It is approved by a military official who has never done a day's labour or a day's fighting with the weapons of the enlisted man. Hence the persistence of the Roman tunic which excels all known garments in cost, weight, the cramping of the lungs, and the disabling of the arms and shoulders whose perfect freedom is needed for wielding weapons and tools. For working or fighting it has to be removed.
The mounted civilian rides for pleasure in a coat, the mounted soldier rides for duty in a tunic, the range horseman rides for a living and wears a shirt. By the exercise of human reason the range man protects his vital organs at a fourth part of the cost, weight, and encumbrance to which the fashions have subjected the sportsmen and the soldiers.
BREECHES. The dress of a gentleman has always been that of the mounted warrior. When plate armour had to be given up because it was no longer bullet proof its lining survived in the form of leather breeches. These leathers are usually whitewashed, but they are still worn by the British Household Cavalry, who are "Gentlemen of the King's guard"; by hunting men; by the mounted servants who used to be armed retainers and still wear livery as such; and in the charro dress of Mexico. They belong to the tradition of aristocracy.
Philosophy of trousers
The principle of breeches is a close fit for the inner surface of the knee and thigh, because with heavy material such as leather or cloth any wrinkles against the saddle will tear off one's skin and cause a deal of pain. With bent leg riding, the outer surface of the thighs had to be loosened, and this loosening has developed into monstrous puffed sleeves which expose the Englishman to ridicule on an irreverent stock-range.