A
union suit is a type of one-piece long
underwearUndergarments or underwear are clothes worn under other clothes, often next to the skin. They keep outer garments from being soiled by perspiration, urine, semen, feces, and other discharges; shape the body; and provide support for parts of it. In cold weather, long underwear sometimes is worn to...
. Created in
Utica, New YorkUtica is a city in the American state of New York, and the county seat of Oneida County.The city of Utica is situated within the region referred to as the Mohawk Valley and the Leatherstocking Region in Central New York State. Utica has an extensive park system, with winter and summer sports...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, it originated as women's wear during the nineteenth-century
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
clothing reform effortsDuring the middle and late Victorian period, various reformers proposed, designed, and wore clothing supposedly more rational and comfortable than the fashions of the time. This was known as the dress reform or rational dress movement...
, as an alternative to constricting garments, and soon gained popularity among men as well. The first union suit was patented in 1868 as "emancipation union under flannel." Traditionally made of red
flannelFlannel is a soft woven fabric, of various fineness. It usually doesn't have a nap, and instead gains its softness through the loosely spun yarn it is woven from...
with long arms and long legs, it buttoned up the front and had a button-up flap in the rear covering the buttocks (colloquially known as the "access hatch", "drop seat", "fireman's flap", and other names), allowing the wearer to eliminate bodily waste without removing the garment.
A
union suit is a type of one-piece long
underwearUndergarments or underwear are clothes worn under other clothes, often next to the skin. They keep outer garments from being soiled by perspiration, urine, semen, feces, and other discharges; shape the body; and provide support for parts of it. In cold weather, long underwear sometimes is worn to...
. Created in
Utica, New YorkUtica is a city in the American state of New York, and the county seat of Oneida County.The city of Utica is situated within the region referred to as the Mohawk Valley and the Leatherstocking Region in Central New York State. Utica has an extensive park system, with winter and summer sports...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, it originated as women's wear during the nineteenth-century
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
clothing reform effortsDuring the middle and late Victorian period, various reformers proposed, designed, and wore clothing supposedly more rational and comfortable than the fashions of the time. This was known as the dress reform or rational dress movement...
, as an alternative to constricting garments, and soon gained popularity among men as well. The first union suit was patented in 1868 as "emancipation union under flannel." Traditionally made of red
flannelFlannel is a soft woven fabric, of various fineness. It usually doesn't have a nap, and instead gains its softness through the loosely spun yarn it is woven from...
with long arms and long legs, it buttoned up the front and had a button-up flap in the rear covering the buttocks (colloquially known as the "access hatch", "drop seat", "fireman's flap", and other names), allowing the wearer to eliminate bodily waste without removing the garment. Depending on the size, some union suits can have a dozen buttons on the front to be fastened through buttonholes from the neck down to the groin area.
The garment remained in common use in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
into the twentieth century. As its popularity waned, it became chiefly working men's wear, increasingly replaced by two-piece
long underwearLong underwear, often called long johns, is a style of two-piece underwear with long legs and long sleeves that is normally worn during cold weather. It offers an advantage over the union suit in that the wearer can choose to wear either the top, bottom, or both parts depending on the weather...
, also known as "long johns". It was not uncommon until the mid-1900s for rural men to wear the same union suit continuously all week, or even all winter. Normally, no other type of underwear was worn with it.
Union suits are still commercially available, but because of their association with "old fashioned" usage, and presumedly "unsophisticated" rural wearers, they are considered comical. The rear flap is also associated with humor, and in film and television the appearance of a union suit, viewed from behind, is a form of mild toilet humor. The 1999
movie adaptationWild Wild West is a science fiction Western action-comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline Wild Wild West (1999) is a science fiction Western action-comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline Wild Wild West (1999) is a...
of
The Wild Wild WestThe Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
, the TV series
RugratsRugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series premiered on Sunday August 11, 1991 and aired its last episode on Tuesday June 8, 2004....
, and the
Family GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television sitcom, created by Seth MacFarlane, for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family which consists of Peter, Lois, Meg, Chris, Stewie, and their pet dog Brian...
episode "
No Meals on Wheels"No Meals on Wheels" is a season five episode of the FOX animated series Family Guy. Its title is a reference to the Meals on Wheels program.-Plot summary:...
" are among those that used the rear flap on union suits for comical effects.
The Union Suit makes an appearance in
Louisa May AlcottLouisa May Alcott was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women, written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts and published in 1868...
's book
Eight Cousins, as a preferred alternative to corsetry under the name 'Liberty Suit'. The Union Suit also makes a presence in the 2003 film
Cold Mountain.
In the American band Panic at the Disco's 2008 music video for "Nine in the Afternoon", a parade scene features the band members in union suits.
The Union [Suit] http://www.hokejobchod.cz/hokej/hrac/ribana-pro-hrace/ribano-funkcni-suprex.html is also used ice-hockeys players
External links