The History of the Blazer: Rowing Clubs, Reefers and the Navy Blazer

In the nineteenth century, rowing was one of the great sports of the English universities and public schools, and clubs dressed their members in distinctive jackets. These were cut loosely for wear over sports clothes, often in flannel, and made in strong club colours or stripes.

The most often repeated origin of the word blazer comes from this world. According to a commonly told story, the Lady Margaret Boat Club of St John's College, Cambridge, wore jackets of a vivid red, and these blazing jackets gave the name blazer to the whole type. The club itself traditionally associates the word with its red jackets. Whether the term was coined there or simply popularized there is hard to prove, but by the later nineteenth century blazer was in general use for brightly coloured sporting and club jackets.

The second ancestor of the blazer is naval. Officers and seamen of the Royal Navy and other fleets wore a short, double-breasted jacket of dark blue wool, known as a reefer, practical for work on deck and climbing rigging. Its double-breasted front could be buttoned to either side against the wind, and its buttons were of metal.

A popular anecdote links the word blazer to a ship called HMS Blazer, whose captain is said to have dressed his crew in smart jackets for a royal visit. This version is widely repeated but less well supported than the rowing story, and it is best treated as a legend. The naval influence on the shape and colour of the blazer, however, is not in doubt: the dark blue double-breasted jacket with metal buttons owes a great deal to the reefer.

By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the blazer had spread from rowing to cricket, tennis and other sports, and from clubs to schools. It became a badge of belonging: a crest on the breast pocket, piping along the edges or stripes in club colours identified the wearer's school, college or team.

This tradition survives in school uniforms across Britain and much of the Commonwealth, in sports club and regatta blazers, and in the jackets worn by teams and officials at events such as tennis championships and rowing regattas.

The striped club blazer deserves a word of its own. Its bold vertical stripes, sometimes in two or three colours, were a way of making a team recognizable from a distance on a river bank or a playing field. Edges bound in braid or ribbon in a contrasting colour served the same purpose. These details were never meant to be subtle, and at a summer regatta they still are not. They also explain why the blazer was long seen as a relaxed garment: it was clothing for sport and leisure, worn in the open air, not for business in town.

During the twentieth century, the plain navy blazer moved from the deck and the boathouse into everyday wardrobes. It offered something the suit could not: a tailored jacket that could be worn with grey flannel trousers, chinos or later even jeans, smart enough for many occasions but less formal than matching suit cloth.

The defining features of the classic navy blazer are simple. The cloth is dark blue, often a hard-wearing serge, hopsack, flannel or other wool with some texture. The buttons are metal, traditionally brass or gilt, sometimes engraved with a crest. Patch pockets are common, especially on more casual versions, though flap pockets are equally correct. It is these details, rather than the colour alone, that make a navy jacket read as a blazer.

Its versatility is the reason the navy blazer became a staple. It can be dressed up with a shirt and tie and grey trousers, or down with an open collar and cotton trousers, and it travels well because it does not depend on a matching pair of trousers.

The double-breasted blazer is the direct descendant of the reefer. Its classic arrangement is six buttons, with two of them functioning, and it is meant to be worn buttoned. It has a slightly more formal, more nautical character and suits a straight, well-defined shoulder.

The single-breasted blazer is closer to the club jacket and the ordinary lounge jacket. It may have two or three buttons, patch or flap pockets, and a centre or side vents. It is the more versatile of the two and is easier to wear open.

• Double-breasted: wide overlap, usually six buttons, peak or notch lapels, worn buttoned.
• Single-breasted: two or three buttons, notch lapels, can be worn open or closed.
• Both: metal buttons and a cloth chosen to contrast with the trousers.

The difference between a blazer and a suit jacket is less about cut than about purpose. A suit jacket is made in the same cloth as its trousers and is designed to be worn with them. A blazer is a separate garment, intended to be worn with trousers of a different cloth and colour.

That purpose shows in the details. Blazers usually use a sturdier or more textured cloth that will not look like an orphaned suit jacket, metal or contrasting buttons instead of horn or matching ones, and more casual features such as patch pockets. A navy suit jacket worn with grey trousers often looks like exactly that, while a true blazer looks intentional.

A blazer is a structured tailored jacket, so its fit depends on the same things as any jacket: a clean shoulder, the right chest and waist balance and a well-pitched sleeve. Because it is worn without matching trousers, it is also a garment people wear often, which makes a good fit worth the effort.

The Minerva Patterns catalog includes several blazer patterns: the 6018 Classic Men's Three-Button Blazer and the 6052 Men's Two-Button Patch Pocket Blazer for single-breasted styles, and the 6020 Men's Double-Breasted Blazer and 6073 Double Breasted Notched Lapel Blazer for double-breasted ones. Each is drafted from the measurements you enter and supplied as PDF, projector file, PLT or DXF AAMA.

Choose the cloth with the blazer's history in mind: a navy serge, hopsack or flannel, and metal buttons sewn on with a shank so they sit proud of the cloth.