They look like decoration, but they once got officers killed. Why jackets have shoulder straps...

A trench coat, a biker jacket, and a safari jacket were designed for completely different people: an officer, a motorcyclist, and an explorer. Yet all three have the same little strip of fabric, stitched to the shoulder and buttoned near the collar. It doesn’t keep you warm. It doesn’t stop rain. On most jackets today, it does almost nothing. That detail is called an epaulette, and it began with a practical problem. Soldiers carried weapons and ammunition on straps that kept sliding off their shoulders. Fastenings added to their coats helped hold those straps in place. One of the most enduring details in clothing started as a strap to hold another strap. Over time, the military turned that simple fastening into a display of rank. Gold and silver fringe made officers recognizable at a glance. The shoulder became a place to announce authority, and increasingly elaborate epaulettes made sure nobody missed it. But that visibility came at a cost. The same detail that helped soldiers recognize their officers also helped enemy marksmen identify them. An ornament designed to communicate status could make its wearer a target. By the First World War, officers’ trench coats carried the simpler version familiar today: a flat shoulder strap secured with a button. As military clothing influenced civilian dress, that detail followed it into very different wardrobes. Schott’s Perfecto motorcycle jacket, introduced in 1928, drew on military flying jackets and retained the epaulettes. The safari jacket followed another route, carrying the pockets, belt, and shoulder straps of British tropical uniforms into the explorer’s wardrobe. Each jacket adapted to a different life. The biker needed protection from wind. The explorer needed practical clothing for hot climates. But the little shoulder strap survived every change—long after most wearers had anything left for it to hold.