Blake Hall
Newly enlisted male sailors have always been fitted with white Dixie cup hats when they received their first military uniforms. In an effort to standardize Navy uniforms, female sailors will also wear the iconic hats.
(Photo Credit: Susan Krawczyk/Navy)
Enlisted female E1-E6 Sailors have until Oct. 31 to start wearing Dixie cups, but female recruits at the Navy’s Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes, Illinois have already started wearing the white canvas hats.
“This feels incredible as we are making a part of history,” said Seaman Recruit Madeleine Bohnert told MissOpen. “It’s really awesome how something as simple as our cover is so symbolic in regards to equality and the uniformity in the military. It’s a sense of pride knowing that we are a part of getting the first Dixie cups.”
Maria Frazier, another recruit, echoed Bohnert’s enthusiasm.
“I think it’s really beneficial because as we work side by side, we have to work as a team,” she said. “For me, it’s important that as we’re working together, we look uniform so we can work in uniform.”
Nicknamed after the popular brand of paper cups, the white sailor cap design has floated in and out of fashion since 1886. The hat can be rolled, folded, crushed, and squared with ease, granting individual sailors a way to show off some individual flare in their uniforms. It can be tough to clean and mold exactly the way you want, but the Dixie cup has remained an enduring symbol of the U.S. Navy.
Any service member who dons the cap can confidently move forward knowing they “look like a sailor.” Now women can share in that tradition and look the part, too.