Right now I am researching a garment for an upcoming exhibit. The garment is the top of an undress blue uniform (or jumper) from the navy circa 1870. However, the jumper is customized with fringe and cutouts. The donor of this piece mentioned that sailors were allowed to customize their uniforms during this time. I have been researching both primary and secondary documents, all state that no one was allowed to customize their uniform.
I am hoping that my fellow historians can shed some light on the topic if military men were allowed to customize their uniforms post-Civil thru the early 20th time frame.
"Allowed to" and "did" are two different things. I am not an expert on the U.S. Navy, but British sailors customized parts of their uniform for a shoregoing "look" since before there were uniforms (1857 in the British case). I wouldn't be surprised if this was a shoregoing uniform or something similar not intended for consumption by the sailor's chain of command.
Up until very recently sailors would get the inside of their cuffs embroidered, (often with Asian themes). They would then roll up their cuffs to show them off, especially during events like fleet week.
I can't speak to the period specifically, but the modern American navy definitely did "customize" their blues.
This is actually a very simple question. In the US Navy, the uniform regulations came from the Department of the Navy and Chief of Naval Operations. However, the Captain of the vessel was at liberty to 'customize' his men's uniforms however he saw fit within certain guidelines. In short, a naval vessel's commander would dictate what, how, and if a sailor could do customizations to their uniforms. That's the theory at least.
In practice, I doubt most officers really cared that much so long as the men did what was asked of them.