Epaulette

Epaulette

Before rank insignia were devised, the rank of an officer was determined by whether one epaulette was on the left shoulder, or the right shoulder, or both. Later a "counter-epaulette", with no fringe, was given to those who wore only one. Besides silver or gold for officers, epaulettes came in cloth for the enlisted men of various arms.

Officers of the United States Army at the time of the Civil War wore gold for artillery and silver for infantry. In Europe, some light infantry wore cloth counter-epaulettes. "Flying artillery" wore "wings," like an epaulette, but with only a bit of fringe on the outside, which matched the shoulder seam. Heavy artillery wore small balls representing ammunition on their shoulders.

Epaulettes have mostly been replaced by insignia pins and sleeve patches to denote rank. British uniform shirt cuffs were once decorated with buttons and colored patches to indicate the rank of officers.

Trench Coats

Little Shoulders That Carry Rank

An epaulette sits where a garment meets authority: on the shoulder, the most visible horizontal surface of a uniform, where a badge can be read at a distance and from the front. As an ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by military or other organizations, the epaulette is both clothing and communication. Its information was carried in several channels at once. The placement of the epaulette, its color, and the length and diameter of its bullion fringe were used to signify the wearer's rank, so a trained eye read metal, color, fringe and position together the way a modern reader reads stripes and pips. Bullion fringe, the hanging twisted cord fringe at the epaulette's outer edge, was not mere decoration: a longer, thicker fringe marked higher standing, and its movement and shine made the shoulder, and therefore the officer, conspicuous in a formation.

The system's history shows insignia being invented step by step. Before rank insignia were devised, the rank of an officer was determined by whether one epaulette was on the left shoulder, or the right shoulder, or both, so the bare count and side of the shoulder pieces were the code. Later a counter-epaulette, with no fringe, was given to those who wore only one, distinguishing the deliberate single epaulette from a missing one. Besides silver or gold for officers, epaulettes came in cloth for the enlisted men of various arms. Officers of the United States Army at the time of the Civil War wore gold for artillery and silver for infantry, an example of color coding by branch laid over the coding by rank. In Europe, some light infantry wore cloth counter-epaulettes, flying artillery wore wings, like an epaulette but with only a bit of fringe on the outside, which matched the shoulder seam, and heavy artillery wore small balls representing ammunition on their shoulders.

Ceremonial Survival and Civilian Descendants

Although sometimes worn in the field, epaulettes are more common on dress or ceremonial uniforms, and the balance between the two uses explains their modern position. In the field, a large fringed shoulder piece is impractical, catches on equipment, and advertises the officer to an enemy; on parade and at ceremony, exactly those qualities are the point, since the uniform is meant to display rank, branch and tradition at a glance. Epaulettes have therefore mostly been replaced by insignia pins and sleeve patches to denote rank in working dress, smaller and cheaper marks that survive field conditions, while the full epaulette survives where display is the duty. That division, working insignia for work, epaulettes for ceremony, is why the piece can look both archaic and current depending on the uniform that carries it.

Civilian clothing borrowed the form and dropped the code. Epaulettes are also found on the trench coat, the safari jacket and other garments, where the shoulder piece appears as a buttoned strap or tab lying along the shoulder seam. On a trench coat the strap echoes the coat's military origin and can hold a bag strap or glove in place; on a safari jacket the epaulettes in the photograph that accompanies the definition sit on a field garment designed in the same military family; on fashion garments the shoulder tab is used to give the shoulder a structured, uniformed line. In none of these civilian uses does the epaulette signify rank: its color, fringe and placement, so meaningful on a uniform, become proportion and styling on a coat. The word itself keeps the memory of the shoulder it names, epaule in French, little shoulders in literal translation, whether the piece is gold-fringed ceremony or a plain cloth tab.