I WONDER how many of you reading this are wearing a gilet? A fair few, I’ll wager. From modest, practical origins in the 15th century it has become quite the status symbol, subtly, or not so subtly, announcing one’s social and professional persuasions with its form, fabric and the likely or unlikely places it appears. Indeed, this lightweight garment has been weighed down by shifting nuances for centuries, undergoing various transformations on its journey from peasant to pheasant.
As early as the 1500s, the gilet appeared as the practical clothing of European peasants, offering warmth and sleeveless manoeuvrability while working the fields. Appropriated by 16th-century monarch Henry VIII in the form of a jerkin and, as a far more elaborate affair, padded and worn over a doublet, it became de rigueur among the aristocracy over the following century. As men turned to slimmer waistcoats, women adopted the garment wearing a silk gilet over dress bodices in the 18th century. But by the 20th century these delicacies had subsided, too, and the gilet was once again revived as functional attire; lined in wool, it found itself in the trenches along with the infantrymen of World War I. A quiet spell followed in the mainstream gilet fashion stakes, although a useful modification was being adopted by landed gentry and their estate workers, who required a garment that offered warmth and freedom of movement while hunting, shooting or fishing.
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Helping hot dogs chill out
From cool coats to clippers, there are a whole host of ways to keep your canine companion comfortable as the summer heat intensifies, says David Tomlinson
Art in the field
Sculpting his wild subjects from life, Fred Gordon is breaking new ground in bronze, says Janet Menzies
How to canapé
A summer celebration is nothing without these tiny works of art. Devised by the country's best canapé cooks, they are just the thing to make your party swing
Ginger-beer childhoods
Summer holidays filled with outdoor adventures are the perfect way to foster a love of the countryside and a lifetime enthusiasm for the field
Glamour, intelligence and drive as standard
Retrieving birds with pace, energy and undeniable elan, these sporting poodles are winning over even traditional gundog breed enthusiasts
The cycle begins
Though it may lie forgotten for much of the year, the kennel bicycle is indispensable in summer when hound exercise gets under way
Turning the tide on the Tyne
The industrial age brought prosperity to Newcastle but at great cost to the Tyne and its salmon. Today its waters are a haven for fish and anglers alike
En garde: a guide to fencing
Not just a clash of swords and some fancy footwork, this ancient sport is an art form that demands agility, discipline and control
Who was Baron Pierre de Coubertin?
It was a diminutive, 19th-century French aristocrat, Baron Pierre de Coubertin (pictured, left), who came up with the idea of reviving the Olympic Games while studying in Paris. He was a sporting sort himself, and had also long despaired of what he perceived as French degeneracy; his country had been humiliated by the loss of the Franco-Prussian War and he attributed this to his countrymen's lack of moral fibre.
A gold-medal guide to Olympic shooting
Everything you need to know, from history, disciplines, rules and regulations to the British sportsmen and women striving for glory