Is camouflage still acceptable to wear? There is so much of it around in fashion, but given all the wars being waged around the world, I wonder if it will become taboo? — Hope, Scottsdale, Ariz.
This is a question that comes up again and again as the fashion industry’s love of camouflage print bumps up against the real world. The trend has ebbed and flowed since the 1970s, but it has never entirely gone away — nor have the complications it engenders.
The last time I received a similar query was in 2021, just after the Capitol insurrection, when a number of people in the mob were wearing camo gear and other costumes. At the time I suggested to the reader that camo was OK as long as it was clearly a fashion item and didn’t look like a uniform. (See: Madonna’s 2017 Met Gala dress or ASAP Rocky’s debut AWGE men’s wear collection, which appeared on the Paris catwalk last June.)
Today, however, I am changing my advice.
This is because that last column prompted the following email from a veteran, which has stuck with me ever since: “When you are in the military, you are instructed about wearing parts or all of your uniform after you are back in civilian life. If your service was honorable, you have earned the right to do so, but it must be done in such a way that it does not disrespect the uniform. If you are not a vet, you should not be wearing camo at all. It is akin to stolen valor.”
And it is because, given the heated and chaotic situation on the streets of the United States, with ICE agents conducting raids, protests spreading and the military parade in Washington drawing thousands of soldiers to the Capitol in full battle dress — as well as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East — wearing camouflage as a fashion statement seems like an increasingly tone-deaf and potentially dangerous choice.
After all, clothes work in two ways: They are how we telegraph information about ourselves to the world, be it identity, community or aspirations — and they are how the world “reads” who we are. To that end, dressing is always a bit of an existential game, a gamble that what you intend and what those around you see will be the same. That is, obviously, not always the case, since we interpret signals through the prism of our own experiences, baggage and preconceptions.
And my guess is that this will be especially not the case when it comes to camo and current events.
Whatever your intention in wearing camo — whether a fun way to participate in the revival of all things Y2K, when low-waist cargo pants were a Britney Spears mainstay, or an ironic antiwar statement as it was back in the day — it may be perceived by someone else as a provocation. It may be seen as a sign of allegiance to either the protesters or the Army itself. You may be labeled part of the conflict, whether you think of yourself that way or not — or want anyone else to think of you that way. (The exception to this being hunters, for whom camo serves its own specific purpose.)
So if messaging is your intent, by all means wear your camo with pride. But do so with your eyes open, understanding what buttons you may be pushing in those around you. This may seem annoying — if you love wearing something, why should it be your job to think about how it appears to others? — but it is also realistic. Fashion is political. How obvious you want to make that is up to you.
Your Style Questions, Answered
Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader’s fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or X. Questions are edited and condensed.
Vanessa Friedman has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014.
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