Puffer (pronounced puhf-er)
(1) A person or thing that puffs.
(2) Any of various fishes of the family
Tetraodontidae, noted for the defense mechanism of inflating (puffing up) its body
with water or air until it resembles a globe, the spines in the skin becoming
erected; several species contain the potent nerve poison tetrodotoxin. Also called the blowfish or, globefish.
(3) In contract law, the casual term for someone
who produces “mere puff” or “mere puffery”, the term for the type of exaggerated
commercial claim tolerated by law.
(4) In cellular automaton modelling (a branch of
mathematics and computer science), a finite pattern that leaves a trail of
debris.
(5) In auctioneering, one employed by the owner
or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price; a by-bidder (now rare, the
term “shill bidders” or “shills” more common).
(6) In marine zoology, the common (or harbour)
porpoise.
(6) A kier used in dyeing.
(8) In glassblowing, a soffietta (a usually swan-necked metal tube, attached to a conical
nozzle).
(9) Early post-war slang for one who takes drugs
by smoking and inhaling.
(10) In mountaineering (and latterly in fashion),
an insulated, often highly stylized puffy jacket or coat, stuffed with various
forms of insulation.
(11) As Clyde puffer, a type of cargo ship used
in the Clyde estuary and off the west coast of Scotland.
(12) In electronics and electrical engineering, a
type of circuit breaker.
(13) A manually operated medical device used for
delivering medicines into the lungs.
(14) As puffer machine, a security device used to
detect explosives and illegal drugs at airports and other sensitive facilities.
(15) In automotive engineering, a slang term for forced
induction (supercharger & turbocharger), always less common than puffer.
In 1620–1630: A compound word puff + -er. Puff is from the Middle English puff & puf from the Old English pyf (a blast of wind, puff). It was cognate with the Middle Low German puf & pof. The –er suffix is from the Middle English –er & -ere, from Old English -ere, from the Proto-Germanic -ārijaz, thought usually to have been borrowed from Latin –ārius and reinforced by the synonymous but unrelated Old French –or & -eor (The Anglo-Norman variant was -our), from the Latin -(ā)tor, from the primitive Indo-European -tōr. Added to verbs (typically a person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb) and forms an agent noun. The original form from the 1620s was as an agent noun from the verb puff, the earliest reference to those who puffed on tobacco, soon extended to steamboats and steam engines generally when they appeared. The sense of "one who praises or extols with exaggerated commendation" is from 1736, which, as “mere puff” or “mere puffery” in 1892 entered the rules of contract law in Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company (1892, QB 484 (QBD)) as part of the construction limiting the definition of misrepresentation. The remarkable fish which inflates itself in defense was first noted in 1814, the meanings relating to machinery being adopted as the industrial revolution progressed although the more virile “blower” was always preferred as a reference to supercharging, puffer more appropriate for the hand-held inhalers used by those suffering a variety of respiratory conditions.
Puffer Jackets and beyond
Calf-length puffer coats.
The first down jacket, a lightweight, waterproof and warm coat for use in cold places or at altitude and known originally as an eiderdown coat, appears to be the one designed by Australian chemist George Finch (1888-1970) for the 1922 Everest expedition but a more recognizable ancestor was the Skyliner, created by American Eddie Bauer (1899-1986) in 1936, his inspiration being the experience of nearly losing his life to hypothermia on a mid-winter fishing trip. Using trapped air warmed by the body as a diver’s wet suit uses water, Bauer’s imperative was warmth and protection, but he created also a visual style, one copied in 1939 by Anglo-American fashion designer, Charles James (1906-1978) for his pneumatic jacket, the Michelin Man-like motif defining the classic puffer look to this day.
It was in the late 1940s it began to enjoy acceptance as a fashion item, marketed as evening wear and it was sold in this niche in a variety of materials until the 1970s when a new generation of synthetic fibres offered designers more possibilities, including the opportunity to create garments with the then novel characteristic of being simultaneously able to be bulky, lightweight yet able to retain sculptured, stylized shapes. These attributes enabled puffer jackets to be made for the women’s market, some of which used a layering technique to create its effect and these were instantly popular. Although initially in mostly dark or subdued colors, by the 1980s, vibrant colors had emerged as a trend, especially in Italy and England. By the twenty-first century, although available across a wide price spectrum, the puffer as a style cut across class barriers although, those selling the more expensive did deploy their usual tricks to offer their buyers class identifiers, some discrete, some not.
The puffer started life as a jacket and it took a long time to grow but by the 2000s, calf-length puffers had appeared as a retail item after attracting comment, not always favorable, on the catwalks. Although not selling in the volumes of the jackets, the costs of lengthening can’t have been high because ankle and even floor-length puffers followed. Down there it might have stopped but, in their fall 2018 collection released during Milan Fashion Week, Italian fashion house Moncler, noted for their skiwear, showed puffer evening gowns, the result of a collaborative venture with Valentino’s designers. Available in designer colors as well as glossy black, the line was offered as a limited-edition which was probably one of the industry’s less necessary announcements given the very nature of the things would tend anyway to limit sales. The ploy though did seemed to work, even at US$2,700 for the long dress and a bargain US$3,565 for the cocoon-like winter cape, demand was said to exceed supply so, even if not often worn, puffer gowns may be a genuine collector’s item.
A Dalek.It wasn’t clear what might have been inspiration for the conical lines although the ubiquity of the shape in industrial equipment was noted. It seemed variously homage to the burka, a sculptural installation of sleeping bags or the stair-challenged Daleks, the evil alien hybrids of the BBC's Dr Who TV series. It also picked up also existing motifs from fashion design, appearing even as the playful hybrid of the mullet dress and a cloak.
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