The man and the sea. The marinière was born in 1858, when it was included in the official uniform of the French Navy. It has also another name: “breton”, related to Brittany, where it was worn for the first time by fishermen. And the fishermen of Deauville, Normandy, gave Coco Chanel the idea of her striped sweater with the boat neck: but this is certainly a men’s garment. The marinière refers to a maritime atmosphere and it’s usually reintroduced in s/s collections but, if the knitting is thick, it could also work for the f/w season. From the 50s on, the breton has gone round the world: from Sartre to James Dean, to Cary Grant (in To Catch a Thief), and in the 80s appeared on the catwalk thanks to Jean Paul Gaultier, that Pierre et Gilles portrayed with imaginative irony. Jean Paul Gaultier in a famous picture by Pierre et Giles (1990).