STEVENSTYLE: July 2010

This A/W 2010-11 camouflage is a must, be it a scarf, gloves or even socks the trick is this classic military print to wear in a nontraditional way. Accessorize it,combine camouflage pants with dress shirts, sport jackets and dress shoes and keep the print new, the distressed look in camouflage is not new (double meaning). So don't be seen on the fashion front not in camo.

HISTORY

The word camouflage entered common terminology, appearing for the first time in English on 25 May
1917 in the London Daily News, when it was used in a sentence that said: "The act of hiding anything from your enemy is termed 'camouflage'." It would appear strange that a fabric designed with the purpose to make it's user invisible would now be juxtaposed beside an urban landscape where it does not hide but maybe make a more fashion conscious statement. For many years the fashion industry has been using and mixing military camo styling to be used in the urban playground, take the combat pant and MA1 jackets that can be found in many a high street clothing shop, we can only suggest that it's not a that big a jump to start take the camouflage fabrics and start making not only utilitarian but high end fashion clothing. Taking the concept of camouflage away from the military and hunter brigade for a while here many artists have toyed with the idea of disruptive patterns. Picasso had also been thinking about camouflage when living in Paris during the war and incorporated it in to his geometric Cubist art forms. Back to camo or dazzle or disruptive painting as it was being termed in these times. The concept of camo and art seem to move forward hand in hand here not only had Picasso inspired the idea but many of the major world forces were employing artists to come up with camo designs. Great Britain employed 18 such artists to paint ships during the wars, from here it moved into common terminology and it wasn't long before camo was being used in fashion design in 1945 US pinup girls were photographed in it and the images widely distributed to the troops.