The articles of clothing soon increased. The dress m/1926 was considered a smock and soon a light blue checkered dress made of cotton was adopted. It was equipped with a white collar and white cuffs. Headgear was a blue-white kerchief. The dress came with a white apron. The apron was part of the dress and was expected to always be worn with the dress. Also, insignias and badges were established for the Lotta Corps to distinguish different skills. In 1928, a red stripe on the shoulder straps marked medically trained staff and a badge in the shape of a yellow field kitchen marked trained cooks.

Lotta Dress m/1931

In 1931, the Lotta Corps adopted a new dress, dress m/1931. The dress was manufactured in cotton for summer service and wool for winter service. The color of the dress was gray with a white collar and white cuffs. The dress was long-sleeved and single- breasted. Headgear was a gray kerchief. The coat was equipped with shoulder straps and a belt. The corps armlet was worn on the left upper sleeve. Stockings and shoes were blank while the gloves were white. There was also a gray peaked cap. Rank insignias were worn on the shoulder straps together with unit or skill badges. In 1931 there were only two types of skill badges; a field kitchen (trained cooks) and a red stripe (medically trained). The image to the right shows the cotton dress m/1931 for the Swedish Lotta Corps. Image: Armémuseum, ID: AM.089797. This dress was worn for a very long time even if some minor changes were made to the dress. In 1934, a red badge marked “Lv” was introduced as a shoulder strap badge for the members of the corps attached to the Anti-Aircraft Defense. “Lv” is short for Luftvärnet which means “anti-aircraft defense”. In 1958, a gray garrison cap with blue piping was introduced. In 1958, the armlet was finally removed.

Related Links

• Uniforms of the Swedish Army • Uniforms of the Swedish Navy • Uniforms of the Swedish Air Force • Military Uniforms for the Women’s Voluntary Defense Services • Swedish military rank insignias • Swedish Voluntary Defense Services • Sweden’s military preparedness 1939 - 1945 • Aircraft Warning Service - Lotta Corps • The Swedish Lotta Corps (Svenska Lottakåren), official site • The Swedish Armed Forces, official site, English • Swedish Voluntary Defense Services

Reference Literature

• Svenska arméns uniformer 1875 - 2000 av Simon Olsson, 2011. • Uniformen berättar, Mikael Hoffsten, 2020. • Hemvärnet 1940 - 1990, Alf Åberg m.fl. 1990. • Svenska lottakårens klädselföreskrifter 2019-01- 09. • Wikipedia • Armémuseum (Army Museum) • Miliseum Top of page

Lotta Dress m/1963

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Lotta dress from 1931 was now beginning to be old-fashioned. In 1963, a new dress for the Lotta Corps was designed and accepted as the new dress of the Corps, Lotta dress m/1963. The dress was blue-gray with a white collar and white cuffs. There was also a blue-gray cotton coatdress with collars and cuffs in the same color as the dress, blue- gray. A blue-gray skirt was worn together with a blue-gray blouse and a blue-gray jacket. The blouse had a detachable collar. The coat had a detachable hood. The headgear was a blue-gray beret. The image to the right shows the Lotta dress m/1963 for the Lotta Corps. The particular dress belonged to a Lotta attached to the Army (Women's Army Corps). Image: Armémuseum, ID: AM.095853.

Uniforms of the Swedish Lotta

Corps

Introduction

On 10 September 1924 Swedish Tyra Wadner initiated the establishment of a women’s voluntary defense service called the Landstorm Women of Stockholm (Stockholms landstormskvinnor). The Landstorm was the army’s older ages classes of draftees. The movement grew and spread to other parts of the country and in 1930 the name was changed to the Landstorm Women of Sweden (Sveriges Landstormskvinnor (SLK)). From 1936, all these women’s voluntary auxiliary defense services were allowed to serve in the field also in times of war. The Landstorm Women was initially only attached to the Army. However, in 1939 the organization’s service became also attached to the Navy and Air Force for non-combat duties. Since the organization now was attached to all armed services they changed their name to the Swedish Lotta Corps (Svenska Lottakåren (SLK). The members of the corps are called lotta in singular and lottor in the plural. The name “Lotta” comes from a heroic poem called Fänrik Ståls Sägner (The Tales of Second Lieutenant Stål), by Johan Ludvig Runeberg, about a fictional woman named Lotta Svärd who took care of wounded soldiers during the Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809 in Finland. Finland was until 1809 a part of Sweden. The epic emphasizes the common humanity of all sides in the conflict. The name of the Lotta Corps comes from the fictional woman Lotta Svärd who took care of wounded soldiers during this war. In 1942, the Lotta Corps became an independent organization. The Lotta Corps has two types of attires; a civilian dress (garb) used for their internal work and a military uniform for field service. The article below describes their official internal garbs. For information about the Women’s defense service uniforms, see Military Uniforms for the Women’s Voluntary Defense Services.

Lotta Dress m/1926

A corps badge was established for the Lotta Corps in 1925, Lotta Badge. It has a yellow cross on a blue background and the letters SLK l(SLK = Svenska Lottakåren). The image to the right shows the Lotta badge. Image: Marinmuseum, ID: MM 25599.E. In 1926, the Lotta Corps adopted their first dress, a light gray-brown dress m/1926. The dress was equipped with a white collar and white cuffs. Headgear was a kerchief. A trench coat styled coat was used as an outdoor garment. The Lotta dress is a civilian dress used by all members of the Lotta Corps.

Lotta Dress m/1978

In 1978, it was time for yet another modernization of the Lotta Corps dress. The dress was like the former dress blue-gray and designated dress m/1978. The dress was equipped with a white collar, white cuffs, and shoulder straps. There were also a blue-gray skirt and jacket and a white blouse. Further, a coat. Headgear was a beret or a scarf. The m/1978 dress didn’t bring many changes, it was rather a revision of the former m/1963 dress. In 1980, a special dress was adopted for young members of the Lotta Corps. The young members of the corps wore from 1980, dark blue long- trousers or a dark-blue skirt (white skirt for summer service) and a white blouse. Part of the dress was also a white or dark-blue T-shirt and a V-necked jumper. There was also a blazer.

Lotta Dress m/1998

The latest Lotta dress is from 1998, lotta dress m/1998. Headgear is a dark-blue beret worn with a gold-colored metal Lotta badge upfront. The Lotta dress m/1998 is dark-blue and is comprised of a jacket and a skirt or long-trousers, a white shirt blouse with long or short sleeves. There are no shoulder straps on the jacket. The skirt and trousers are worn with a black or blue belt. The jacket is buttoned up with three buttons and is always worn buttoned-up. A side cap may be worn with the dress. The shoes must be either black or dark-blue with low or semi-low heels. The Lotta badge (Lotta brooch) is worn on the right side of the breast on the coat, jacket, and blouse. The armed service badge is only worn on the former Lotta dress m/1978. I haven’t been able to find a public domain marked photo of the Lotta dress m/1998, however, there is a photo of the dress on the Lotta Corps website at: https://www.svenskalottakaren.se/om- oss/historik/lottakarens-foreningsdrakt