Fashion Blogs

Who remembers the "red vests"? This is the "yellow vest" that is today at the forefront of the scene. Whatever his point of view, the color of the vest leaves no more indifferent. And, the fact is forgotten, but originally, wearing a safety vest signaled a scary situation.

First the ancient galley

The word "vest", two small syllables, soft to pronounce, originates from a Turkish word, yelek, passed in the Arabic language of the Maghreb, then installed in Spanish during the Arab conquest.

It was in 1664, in the work of Jean de Thevenot, entitled Relation of a voyage made to the rising, that the word attested for the first time. And from the outset, this type of clothing defined as a kind of sleeveless camisole settled to become progressively elegant in the late eighteenth century.

Its color became symbolic in the nineteenth century, and in the twentieth century, it also took a saving dimension with the lifejacket and the bulletproof vest. And of course the "yellow vest," also says security. But why is the vest in principle sleeveless? Because it was initially the dress of rigor carried by the Christian slaves on the galleys. Rowing better without sleeves!

From corset to bullet-proof

Point of the definition of the "vest" in our first dictionaries. Littré confirms it: "Gilet, which is neither in Furetière nor in Richelet, is in the dictionary of the Academy only from 1763." And Littre to propose two etymologies, alas false. It was indeed tempting to imagine that the two final letters of the word sounded like a diminutive of Gilles,

In truth, the diminutive "and" was added by analogy with the "mantelet" and the "corset". Moreover, in 1787, in his Diction (n) critical area, Abbé Féraud defines the vest by two synonyms: "camisole, corset". The sad definition that contrasts with that of the French Academy of the 21st century, always very precise and elegant: "Sort of jacket short and tight at the waist, usually sleeveless that is worn on the shirt" with details about the vest flannel, and salvators "life jackets" or bulletproof.

And the "red vests"

The waistcoat of the galérien, alone, could have made a symbol, but it is the mention of a color which will give its militant panache to the garment. It was the "red vest" that took the lead, with the privileged bearer Théophile Gautier.

We must re-read Verlaine, whose recollections were published posthumously in 1896, especially about the drama given by Victor Hugo, Hernani, stakes in the hall of a famous battle between the romantic and the classics. But who embodied, in color, the ardor of this new movement? Théophile Gautier, wearing a scarlet vest, struggling "in his stall as in the bright days of red vests". And so the "red vests" designated a time romantic. While visible but in yellow, our "safety vests, standard CE 421", are even less romantic!

Red with a pocket for the gusset or yellow with reflective tapes, anyway, the activist must know "put on his vest" underlines Littré about this missing verb. Be careful also to another formula that was literally in the nineteenth century: "give a vest to someone".

Would the spout of the fuel pump be as formidable today as the foil? The duel in foil is no longer fly, and the vest is also bullet-proof, it seems so hot, but in his way, it is cold in the back.