Formal epaulettes, scalloped breast pockets, concealed placket, and insignia mounts reinforce institutional and ceremonial hierarchy.

Steen-Compton Uniforms AB, a Swedish manufacturer specializing in high-grade institutional uniforms, produced this military dress jacket in alignment with their enduring design philosophy centered on standardized formalism, robust construction, and visual authority. Known primarily within Sweden’s military and civil service sectors, Steen-Compton merged military-grade tailoring traditions with industrial textile innovations, emphasizing garments that balance hierarchical visual coding, durability under frequent use, and technical precision. While their influence remained regional compared to global fashion houses, Steen-Compton played a pivotal role in the Nordic modernization of military and ceremonial attire, refining the interface between classical tailoring standards and the emerging efficiencies of synthetic fabric technologies. Their contributions mirror the broader Scandinavian mid-20th-century movement to rationalize, formalize, and technically optimize service dress codes for mass institutional deployment. This jacket is categorized as a formal military dress uniform jacket, designed explicitly for ceremonial or high-formality service contexts within structured environments. Its design intent prioritizes visual sharpness, authority projection, and structural endurance, evident in features such as formal epaulettes, symmetrical dual breast pockets with scalloped flaps, a concealed button placket to maintain a continuous line, and mounted insignia elements that denote military rank and affiliation with immediate visual clarity. Constructed through structured tailoring methodologies, the garment incorporates internal fusible or sew-in canvassing at key load-bearing points like the shoulders, front placket, and collar. Primary seams are executed with single-needle lockstitching, complemented by topstitch reinforcement at functional stress areas such as pocket edges. Partial lining in lightweight synthetic twill stabilizes the jacket’s form while enhancing wearability and maintenance. Buttons are cross-stitched onto inner reinforcement pieces to distribute mechanical stress, a standard practice in military-grade uniform construction, further supporting long-term garment integrity. The modular block pattern is drafted for mass production efficiency and formal rigidity: a square-cut torso with minimal waist suppression enables unobstructed layering over base uniforms, while the shallow sleeve caps subtly enforce an upright military posture. Pocket placements are symmetrical, with scalloped flaps introducing a discreet formal ornament that breaks rigidity without undermining structural clarity. A shaped front hem extension tab ensures closure security while controlling drape over the hips, harmonizing functionality and visual balance. Assembly techniques reflect disciplined industrial tailoring standards. The concealed front placket requires meticulous underlayering and stabilized edge stitching; pocket flaps are clean-turned and topstitched for contour precision; shoulder epaulettes are securely inserted into armscye seams and buttoned down, balancing ornamental rank display with structural reinforcement. Sleeves are set in the round after torso construction, enhancing shoulder roll control and sleeve head shaping, while hems and sleeve ends utilize facing methods to maintain crisp, durable edges. Internally, seams are overlocked prior to lining installation for clean stabilization, with critical exterior seams pressed open for maximum structure retention. Armholes show no external topstitching, consistent with military and ceremonial suiting protocols. Reinforcement strategies include bar-tacking at epaulet and placket endpoints, fusible interfacings within critical shape-retaining zones, shanked button attachments with internal support buttons to mitigate torque on brass hardware, and stay-stitching at neckline and armscye curves to prevent distortion during assembly. Technically, the garment exhibits exceptional execution precision: symmetry across pockets, placket, and sleeve installations is exact; dense suiting fabric is managed without surface rippling, particularly at stress-prone junctures like pocket edges and armholes. Minor ornamental sculpting of pocket flaps and hem notches is executed crisply, reflecting disciplined pattern drafting and seam allowance control aligned with high-formal suiting standards. Fully constructed epaulettes with functional button closures, scalloped breast pocket flaps engineered for both ornamental and operational utility, and a concealed placket integrating squared shank buttons exemplify the garment’s high technical refinement. Square buttonholes and metal insignia mounts are sewn with mechanical precision, critical for maintaining a sharp ceremonial profile under formal inspection. The jacket adheres to the M/87 model lineage—a Swedish military dress standard formalized in the late 1980s—while retaining stylistic continuity with earlier British and Germanic service jackets. Simplified for modern production, the silhouette preserves symbolic markers such as shoulder epaulettes and scalloped pockets, reinforcing its position within the ceremonial dress continuum. Fabric composition, based on the internal labeling and textile behavior, is a 55/45 wool-polyester blend, executed in a high-density plain or tight twill weave (~280–320 GSM). This technical blend delivers resilience against creasing, increased abrasion resistance, and thermal stability, supporting year-round wear in formal settings. Wool’s natural breathability and resilience are balanced against polyester’s dimensional stability and maintenance efficiency, resulting in a crisp drape and structured silhouette essential for service uniforms. The surface texture, visually fine and nearly matte, reflects a tightly woven, high-twist structure optimized for form retention and visual clarity. Comparative textile traditions include barathea wool, tropical wool twills, serge, and gabardine adapted for military formalwear—fabrics historically selected for their shape retention, breathability, and durability under institutional usage. Textile mills historically associated with such fabrics include Barberis Canonico, Hield Brothers, Tessilstrona, and W.T. Johnson & Sons, all renowned for producing resilient suiting textiles that balance technical function with formal presentation. Structurally, the garment adheres to a formal suiting blueprint: two-piece front body panels with vertical darts, two-piece back construction centered along the spine for reinforcement, and two-piece sleeves drafted with slight anatomical curvature to optimize arm mobility while maintaining ceremonial posture expectations. Sleeves are lightly padded at the cap, enhancing shoulder presence without adding visual bulk, and seams are pressed open and stabilized throughout. The notched lapel collar is reinforced with fusible interfacing to sustain dimensional integrity, and edge finishing across the neckline, hem, and sleeve ends utilizes blind internal stitching to ensure a seamless external presentation. Cuffs are plain-finished without buttons, emphasizing a streamlined formality consistent with regulation dress codes, while the hemline is squared and internally reinforced via facings to control drape and prevent fabric distortion. Psychologically, the garment embodies visual codes of discipline, hierarchy, and collective identity: scalloped pocket flaps suggest attentiveness to order and detail, while structured lapels and insignia placements instantly communicate rank and institutional affiliation. The design reduces personal expressiveness, emphasizing the wearer’s integration into a regulated system—a conceptual cornerstone of uniform theory. Artistically, the jacket fits squarely within a high-formalist tradition, where minimal ornamentation, strict proportion, and historical referencing through subtle details maintain a dignified ceremonial aura. There is no avant-garde experimentation; instead, the garment embodies institutional aesthetics with an unwavering commitment to order, tradition, and function-driven formality. Historical placement situates the jacket firmly within the Cold War-era European servicewear evolution. The internal label’s reference to “1976” likely denotes fabric batch or supply chain origin rather than initial garment production, which stylistically aligns more credibly with post-1980s Swedish military dress reforms. The “med frontfixering” tag—Danish for “with front stabilization”—suggests regional cross-sourcing of interfacing or structural materials, a common Nordic procurement practice in the late 20th century, though the core garment production remains unmistakably Swedish, reflecting Steen-Compton Uniforms AB’s national manufacturing standards. In the contemporary fashion landscape, this garment holds relevance within archival military vintage circles and niche reinterpretations of ceremonial dress within editorial, costume, and avant-garde fashion spaces. Designers like Raf Simons, Craig Green, and Dries Van Noten have historically mined military dress codes for inspiration, while brands like Engineered Garments adapt similar silhouettes into utilitarian-functionalist reinterpretations. Although its rigid construction and specificity limit broad commercial crossover, its archival value for fashion historians, collectors, and stylists remains substantial. In final evaluation, this Steen-Compton Uniforms AB military dress jacket demonstrates exceptional technical rigor, resilient material engineering, and strict aesthetic discipline, embodying the technical, cultural, and psychological imperatives of late 20th-century Nordic servicewear. Its viability today lies predominantly within archival preservation, costume applications, and niche fashion movements that valorize historical integrity, structural excellence, and narrative authenticity in garment design.

Measurements (cm):
Chest: 55
Length: 61
Shoulder: 45
Sleeve: 62



Size Conversion (approximate)
US Men’s Size: L
EU Men’s Size: 50


SKU: 015051