WRINS Uniform - A piece of history that’s redefining naval tradition

Through the Royal Navy Race Diversity Network’s South Asian Heritage Project, we've delved deep into the cultural significance of clothing within military history and the nuances that formed diverse service dress under the Admiralty. That research enabled us to work closely with the Network’s other project, the Cultural Equivalent, a project aimed at expanding existing forms of cultural clothing that can be worn with mess dress to include wider forms of British heritage. Thanks to this research and teamwork, the Royal Navy's mess dress policy has undergone a significant update - one that celebrates the full diversity of the UK’s cultural identity.

For those unfamiliar, mess dress is a uniform worn by offices and senior ratings for smart social occasions such as mess dinners, balls and cocktail parties.

Our Women's Royal Indian Naval Service (WRINS) pamphlets and album from the Second World War provided crucial historical evidence showing that the Royal Navy has long embraced cultural variations in uniform. The WRINS was formed in 1942 and played a vital role in supporting naval operations during the war. Women in WRINS took on key roles in communications, intelligence, and operational support, allowing more men to be deployed in combat. This pioneering service helped lay the foundation for greater inclusion of women in the military and highlights the Royal Navy's historic openness to cultural diversity.

With this foundation, local tailors Tin Trousers recreated an authentic Second World War WRINS uniform including hand stitching the recreation of the badges and even down to the details of the Royal Indian Navy buttons. The uniform was first showcased at the Tri-service Diwali event held at the National Museum of the Royal Navy Portsmouth and was worn proudly at the evening's Diwali mess dinner onboard HMS Warrior. The WRINS uniforms and saris have also made appearances on ships and during our museum’s celebrations with the local South Asian community. These garments were featured in a special photoshoot with the community group Chat Over Chai, who lent their voices to this important cultural dialogue. Lucky Haque, Co-Chair of Chat Over Chai, expressed their support for the project: “We took part in the photoshoot to support the Royal Navy Diversity Network. We wanted to contribute to the Cultural Equivalent project and back the proposal for this policy amendment."

History isn’t just preserved - it’s shaped. We are incredibly proud to have played a role in this important evolution of the Royal Navy’s traditions.

If you’re interested in learning more about South Asian heritage and the vital contributions of WRINS during World War II, we invite you to visit the Hear My Story Gallery at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. You can also find out more about South Asian links to our collections by watching our Tidal Tea films created with Chat Over Chai.