The military requires order, and an askew Sam Browne is sloppy.

August 9, 1919
Question: The crooked waist belt (Sam Browne) and star earrings.*

I have received many letters complaining about my negative comments in my last answer column regarding these two bygone Austrian traditions. First I will deal with my aversion to star earrings. During the war when I saw our soldiers with their captured “Stella d’Italia”, the five-pointed star worn by Italian soldiers, and when I saw our street riff raff wearing these as well I could not suppress the queasy feeling that at the same time in Rome and Palermo the Austrian Officers Star was adorning the headgear of the same gutter snipes there. While one tends to endure the national disgrace at home, it is an immense embarrassment abroad and therefore unbearable for me. What must the Italians think of our officers! These stars, that not even a trapeze artist, in a better vaudeville show would wear, this earring spirit, which at the utmost should be worn by female circus riders, who in their carriages make village after village unsafe – children take the wash of the clothes lines, the comedians are coming – this is an ornament that a man, no, a soldier, anyone who has stood over a fellow combatant, one who calls himself an officer, who has this symbol sewn onto his uniform would dare wear! No! A person, who does not feel as I do about this, has no feeling for manliness, no feeling for human dignity. By God, our officers should be thankful for the people’s guard patrols – even though they are illegal – that they do not go through life with an insignia that other nations would only accord to the pauvre saltimbanque.

In regard to the Sam Browne one can already see by the position of the leather belt, there where the bayonet is carried, three cultural spheres: the German, the Austrian and the other nations. The other nations, including the Turks and the Bulgarians, wore their Sam Browne’s horizontally, not askew. The military requires order, and an askew Sam Browne is sloppy. They were able to accomplish this by placing two hooks that were sewn into the side of the uniform jacket. The Germans, who also to a great extent value order, were able to attain this with two hooks as well, however, they did not look like hooks. They were intended to convey the appearance of buttons, sewn on in place of the two uppermost buttons, which in total numbered six and adorned the tails of the uniform jacket. An imitation therefore, do you understand? By this I mean the difference between an honest hook and one that does not want to admit to being a hook, but something else. Why? Well, because it is pretty. Do you now understand the difference between a Turk, Bulgarian, etc. and a German?

The Austrian does not use a hook or attempt to feign order with a fake button. He is a straightforward fellow and wears the Sam Browne belt as it falls. Which means askew. And he is quite priggish about it – because it looks good.

Why a Man Should be Well Dressed - Adolf Loos. P.79