Nautical chic, Amber Butchart

From the modernist elegance of Coco Chanel to Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood''s punk-fuelled pirates, the appeal of nautical dress has cut a sartorial swathe for over two centuries. But how did garments such as the blue and white fisherman''s top and peacoat cross over from uniform and workwear into fashionable dress? Fashion historian Amber Jane Butchart traces the relationship between maritime dress and the fashionable wardrobe, uncovering stories, tracking the trends, and tracing the evolution of the style back to its roots in our seafaring past.

Butchart weaves together politics, imperialism, war, leisure, trade, sport and seafaring adventure to tell the stories of garments - the duffle coat, the yellow fisherman''s macintosh, the yacht club blazer -loaded with historical and cultural significance. From Chanel''s coastal couture to McLaren and Westwood''s piratical punk, from Jean Paul Gaultier''s beefcake camp to Tommy Hilfiger''s preppy classics, this is the first and only book to celebrate nautical fashion and all its iconic looks. The author charts how blue-and-white stripes became the choice of style arbiters as diverse as Coco Chanel, Pablo Picasso, Audrey Hepburn, Brigette Bardot, and Andy Warhol.

"The Pirate" concludes the book by tying together Captain Hook, Malcolm McLaren, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.