A British classic, and one of the most recognisable piece of vintage clothing! The denison smock's history lies in the early part of WW2. Having seen the success of the German's airborne forces in Norway, Churchill ordered Britain's parachute regiment to be formed and expanded quickly. Initially the British copied the German parachute oversmock, called a knockensack, but soon developed their own large overfitting garment known as a denison smock. The first iteration was introduced in 1942, and whilst there would be small changes, remained largely unchanged into the late 50s.
This example is from the mid-1950s, very similar to the WW2 pattern but with a slightly different cut, knitted cuffs and chromed snaps.
Condition:
This is example is largely great, the cuffs have been replaced with a modern set, but otherwise it's very nice.
Size
- Size tag is washed out but I suspect a 4 or 5
- Fits from a modern large to X-large depending upon desired fit
- Pit to pit 27" (if you've never had a denison, these fit very broad across the chest)
- Shoulder to shoulder 22"
- Shoulder to cuff 24"
- Collar to hem 34"