WOMEN IN BREECHES

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 48, Issue 2865, 20 November 1939, Page 5

WOMEN IN BREECHES

NEW UNIFORMS DESIGNED BRITAIN’S AUXILIARY SERVICES Hundreds of thousands of service dress items have been rushed out from British factories since war began, to meet the needs of the new legions of women in uniform. The Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service .alone was responsible for the purchase of some 20,000’ uniforms in the first three weeks of war and such is the capacity of industry that one store in London which makes outfits for all types of women’s organisations reports that its workshops turned out in a single week nearly three times the quantity of uniforms they were scheduled to complete.

Women who are giving their time to. war work as members of the Women’s Voluntary Services have had a famous London dress designer to choose their regulation outfit. It is a grey-green herring-bone suit and overcoat, with a ruby blouse and a striped scarf combining those shades. More than 10;000 green overalls have already been completed for their use in office work.

The Auxiliary Fire Service women are rigged out in navy blue, piped with scarlet, and their headgear is rather like a ski-ing cap. Nurses’ kit varies from the red and grey for army nurses to the more sombre blue and white of the St. John Ambulance volunteers.

The Women’s Land Army is both attractive and distinctive in having khaki breeches, cream-coloured shirts and bottle-green pullovers.