Fashion Statement

I was asked last week to translate some text containing the French word ‘marinière’.

Now you would imagine that there is some simple equivalent English word for this but nothing could be further from the truth.

You often find this word in recipes such as moules marinière which refers to mussels cooked with wine, cream, parsley etc. So far so good.

But it is also a garment worn by sailors in north western France originally but which has now become a fashion item featuring navy and white stripes. Of course being a fashion item it might not be navy and white, it might be sleeveless, long-sleeved, butterfly-sleeved or any other combination.

How to translate this ? You could try sailor shirt, sailor top, French sailor shirt, Breton sailor shirt, or even marinière.

So it’s not that easy, and without seeing the actual garment referred to in the text, the generic sailor shirt will probably have to do.