Everything about Overall totally explained
An
overall is a type of
garment which is usually used as
protective clothing when working. Overalls have sometimes been items of
fashion, especially in the
1990s. By analogy with protective clothing, technical students started wearing overalls to specific events in Sweden and later in Finland, and later the practice spread to all students. Some people call an overall a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers".
Bib-and-brace (Dungaree)
braces (called suspenders in the USA) which go over the shoulders. Some people use the word "overall" for this garment only and not for a boilersuit. In
British English such a garment is usually called a pair of
dungarees.
Bib overalls are usually made of blue
denim and often have riveted pockets, similar to those on
blue jeans. Bib overalls have long been associated with rural men in the U.S. South and Midwest, especially farmers and
railroad workers. They are often worn with plaid flannel shirts,
long johns or a red
union suit underneath, or with a
T-shirt or no shirt at all in warmer weather. These workers seldom wear
neckties because of the inherent safety risk it would bring. Since the
1960s, different colors and patterns of bib overalls have been increasingly worn by young people of both sexes, often with one of the straps worn loose or unfastened along the side and under the arm.
Etymology of "dungaree"
The term "dungaree" was associated with a coarse undyed
calico fabric that was produced and sold in a region near
Dongari Killa (also called Fort George) in
Bombay (now
Mumbai) in
India. The cloth was cheap and often poorly woven. As such, it was used by the poorer classes for clothing and by various navies as a
sail cloth. Sailors often re-used old sails to make clothes. In time, the name of the cloth came to also mean an item of clothing made out of it.
Military overall
In the British Army, male Officers'
mess dress in most regiments includes a pair of very tight wool trousers which extend above the waist and are worn with
braces.
The first use of overalls as part of a military uniform was by the Americans. In fact, the earliest written reference to "overalls" in the English language dates to 1776 in the uniform regulations of various American militia units organized to fight in the American Revolution. Overalls were also used by loyalist units, as well as by patriots. As with the gaiters they replaced, military overalls of the Revolutionary War were very tight in the leg, and while some styles retained the full buttoned sides, most relegated the buttons to the distance from mid-calf to the hem. The gaiter style foot covering was retained, as the first military overalls were intended for infantry soldiers. Early regulations and military records show that overalls were strictly a protective layer of clothing for the breeches and stockings for the first couple of years of war. However, the 1778 uniform regulations for the Continental regulars specifically state that overalls, made of linen for summer and wool for winter, will be issued as a replacement for breeches. This is the first purposely non-protective use of overalls in place of breeches as a regular piece of clothing.
Specialist battledress was developed primarily during the Second World War, including the Denison smock - originally for parachutists but also adopted by snipers. Specialized jump clothing was perpetuated by the Canadian Airborne Regiment who wore distinctive disruptive-pattern jump smocks from 1975 until disbandment in 1995.
Special patterns of AFV uniform were also worn beginning in the Second World War, initially black coveralls, later khaki coveralls as well as the padded "Pixie suit". Olive drab tanker's uniforms were adopted with the Combat uniform in the 1960s, including a distinctive padded jacket with angled front zip.
The Canadian Army has made extensive use of plain coveralls as a field uniform, commonly using khaki coveralls in the Second World War to save wear and tear on wool BD. In the 1950s and 1960, the cash-poor Canadian military adopted black coveralls which were often worn as combat dress, replacing them in the 1970s with rifle green coveralls. These were worn in the field in Canada by units in training but are also evident in photos of men deployed to West Germany during the Cold War, as armoured and mechanized units sometimes preferred to wear coveralls when carrying out maintenance.
Shortalls
]].
Shortalls are a type of
overalls in which the legs of the garment resemble those of
shorts. The word is a contraction of these two words. They are often worn during the summer and had their latest popularity peak in the mid 1990s. Today popularity is increasing again for shortalls. Also seen now are skirtalls which are like shortalls except that the bottom of the garment resembles a skirt.
Shortalls designed for
toddlers often have
crotch and
leg snaps to facilitate
diaper changes.
Sometimes it could be capri overalls which are a type of overalls whose legs are like the legs of
capri pants.
Boilersuit
This is sometimes called a
coverall. In American English, it's nearly always referred to as "coveralls". It is a one-piece garment with full-length sleeves and legs like a
jumpsuit, but usually less tight-fitting. Its main feature is that it has no gap between jacket and trousers or between
lapels, and no loose jacket tails. It often has a long thin pocket down the outside of the right thigh to hold long tools. It usually has a front fastening extending the whole length of the front of the body up to the throat, with no
lapels. It may be fastened with
buttons, a
zipper,
velcro, or
snap fasteners. Boilersuits with an attached
hood are available. The word "boilersuit" may also refer to disposable garments such as
Dupont's Tyvek suits.
Boilersuits are so called because they were first worn by men maintaining
coal-fired
boilers. In order to check for steam leaks or to clean accumulated soot from inside the
firebox of a steam locomotive, it's necessary for someone to climb inside, through the firehole (where the coal is shovelled in). A one-piece suit avoids the potential problem of loosened soot entering the lower half of the cleaner's clothing through the gap in the middle. As the firehole opening is only just large enough for a fit individual to negotiate, a one-piece suit also avoids the problem of the waistband snagging on the firehole as the person bends to wriggle through.
Uses of boilersuits
Coveralls are most often worn as protective clothing over "street" clothes at work. They are sometimes also worn directly over shirt and underclothes.
Coveralls called
student overalls are used by university students in some Scandinavian countries as a sort of party-uniform, with insignia on the back and color varying with program and university. It is also practice to customize the coverall in a variety of ways, including adding a large number of patches, and exchanging parts of the suit with other students.
The
French police unit called
CRS use boilersuits as
uniforms.
A dark blue coverall is the current working uniform of the
U.S. Navy, with the owner's name and "U.S. Navy" on the chest, and
rank insignia on the
collar points. In the US Navy
submarine force, these are called "poopie suits".
Similar coveralls in
olive drab (and more recently,
desert tan) are also used by the crews of
armored fighting vehicles in the
US Army and
Marine Corps, where the men and also their overalls are sometimes called "
CVCs", an abbreviation of "
Combat Vehicle Crewman".
In
car racing and
drag racing, boilersuits normally made of a fireproof material such as
Nomex or
wool are used.
Chad Smith, drummer for the
Red Hot Chili Peppers, commonly wears boilersuits during concerts.
All members of the
heavy metal band
Slipknot wear numbered boiler suits along with unique masks.
Fictional
serial killer Michael Myers of the
Halloween series of movies is almost always depicted wearing a boilersuit.
References
Further Information
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