Beyond Fabric • Camo Craze

Camo Craze

The ever shifting fashion world is one that draws inspiration from everything around it: art, culture, design, media, past, present or even future. As Sir Paul Smith so eloquently put it: “Inspiration can be found everywhere, if you can’t look again”. Work, mountain, navy and armywear, all have experienced trend bursts and become not only subjects for themed collections but also menswear staples in their own right. However, few have been so hyped as camouflage in recent seasons.

Although camo and military inspired garments have paved their way into street style and designer stores in the past (generally in a tasteless fashion), its recent resurgence on runways and high-end labels has turned this stealthy pattern into one of the most coveted and current around. Even if not solely responsible for it, I have to hand it over to the Woost God for elevating camo to new standards through his unique use of variations on the theme: never has camouflage experienced such love as now.

While at Pitti, one needed only take a look around to feel a part of an exquisitely dapper war game where everyone, if not everything, sported the motif: even resting area tents were made of camouflage canvas. And judging by both AW12 and SS13 collections, the truth is, love it or hate it, camo is here to stay…