East German Uniform Jacket

I figure it's about time I wrote about some fashion, so I think I'll start with one of my favorite jackets:

This is an East German enlisted men's parade tunic. It's the one I'm wearing in my profile photo. I bought this particular jacket on eBay, but they are available at various places around the web. They range in price from about $20 - $50. It is sometimes confused with World War 2 German, but this one is much later; I estimate 1970's. The color is different from the older uniforms, too. The older ones were a color known as "Feldgrau" or field gray, which had a lot of green in it. This one is closer to steel gray. The overall fit and construction is excellent.

Everything appears clean and tight, with close atention to detail.

Here's a shot of the inside pocket area:

"G-48-0" is the size. This one translates roughly to a US 38 regular. It's not exact, but with the German (and Swiss) stuff, you can usually subtract 10 and get pretty close, i.e.; 48 is 38, 50 is 40, and so on.

All the outside pockets have edge-binding like this. There is also a small pocket inside the bottom right pocket. Note that even the flaps are lined.

The device on the shoulder is known as a shoulder board. It's held on by a strip of fabric that passes through a loop at the shoulder seam, then the botton is pushed through a hole in the board and tied on with a small string which is accessed by way of an opening in the liner. The pink piping represents Panzer Corps, or armored division (tanks). The patch on the collar is called a collar tab.

This jacket fits me better than any other jacket I own. That's part of the reason that it's one of my favorites. I like to combine it with pants that sport loud or bold colors and patterns. My general approach is patterned bottoms with solid tops. I will post pics of some of my favorite combos in the near future.