American Vogue: the jaunty, optimistic military chic.
[Editor's note: In keeping with our promise to cover all things pop culture, LFM Co-Editor Govindini Murty will be contributing occasional pieces on fashion and style as part of our exploration of modes of creativity that inspire filmmakers.]
By Govindini Murty. This week on LFM we are celebrating fashion and how it influences cinema and the arts. I will be reviewing several fashion-related films this week and will also be discussing related issues of style and creativity and how they feed the cinematic sense of filmmakers. As an independent filmmaker and creative free spirit myself, I love fashion because I see it as a form of art – wearable art. And just like cinema, fashion is an important indicator of cultural moods and shifting popular tastes.
I find it fascinating that this spring/summer all the fashion magazines are featuring a strong ‘military chic’ trend. American Vogue, Paris Vogue, Elle UK, and Women’s Wear Daily have all recently featured photo spreads with military-inspired fashions. American Vogue photographs the new military chic in a classic, all-American style with cheerful, clean-scrubbed models striding about in a jaunty manner. Paris Vogue, in the decadent style it has made famous, photographs the military chic fashions on a sexy, sultry model posing languidly in the middle of the desert. British Elle, in a photo spread shot by one of my favorite fashion bloggers, Garance Dore, takes military chic to the streets and makes it flirty, youthful, and accessible.
Perhaps the most famous designer though to embrace military chic and take it to stratospheric heights of desirability is Christophe Decarnin of Balmain, who has single-handedly turned around that venerable design house’s fortunes by creating a whole new aesthetic built on structured military jackets with exaggerated shoulders, braiding, and epaulettes paired with skin-tight leather pants or distressed jeans and shredded t-shirts – all in neutral tones of khaki, black, or steel grey. Decarnin’s shredded military-green t-shirts alone run upwards of $1500, while his elaborate, structured military jackets run into the ten of thousands of dollars. Nonetheless, chic women from Paris to London to New York are snapping up his military-inspired clothes, and influential fashion editors like Emmanuelle Alt of Paris Vogue wear his clothes almost exclusively in public.
The sultry, sexy approach to military chic from Paris Vogue.
Khaki, epaulettes, military jackets, camouflage, dog tags. What does it all mean?
Is this new military chic a sign of a resurgent traditionalism, a yearning for order and authority after years of Bacchic hippie excess? Is it a cultural indicator of a new desire for sternness, discipline, and austerity – or is it just that the structured uniform-like outfits look great on women and give them an androgynous appeal that fashion, in its ongoing decadent sampling, loves right now?
In a famously liberal industry that is vehemently anti-war and puts peace signs on everything – and I mean everything (side note: does anyone actually buy this stuff?) – isn’t it ironic that the fashion industry would now be promoting the garb of the men and women who fight wars, thereby implicitly celebrating them and what they do?
Christophe Decarnin's rocker-meets-military chic designs for Balmain.
Ultimately one comes to realize that in fashion, as in the best films, the politics/ideology/morality lie on the surface as a sort of window dressing to cover up what is essentially an amoral art form. Fashion, like the cinema, is ultimately about beauty, sensuality, and emotion. Whereas the cinema is art that moves and tells a story, fashion is the art one wears to venture out into the world and live one’s own story. Or even if one can’t literally buy and wear high fashion, one can still look at it and admire how it is photographed, styled, and staged – and thus feed one’s visual sense. This is something we need to constantly do as filmmakers (since cinema is, after all, primarily about the image): we must feed our visual sense.
Thus, the new military fashion can be seen in multiple ways: as a resurgence of patriotism and traditional values, or as an arch commentary or co-opting of these values for subversive ends, or as a fetishizing of the force and authority (and even violence) that is traditionally associated with the military (and that the decadent fashion world secretly loves) – or simply as the amused aesthete’s appreciation of all these forms for the sake of the play itself.
Whatever the motivation, as long as we show respect for the real men and women in uniform who risk their lives to defend our freedoms, the new military chic is just fine with me.
Posted on June 29th, 2010 at 1:30am.
Nice piece. And fashion is a most appropriate subject for a movie site. I’d like to see more.
. . all the fashion magazines are featuring a strong ‘military chic’ trend.
Well, now that Blair and Bush are gone it’s okay to be “pro military” since the services (at last!!) are now fighting on the “same side”.
After the Vietnam war military chic was in as well, although it was also interpreted as “guerilla” chic, distressed olive drab shirts, for example being more appropriate for South American communist insurgents ala Che than US military activities.
At least we aren’t seeing “Taliban” chic right now. Finally, an enemy the stylish left isn’t artistically fawning over.
Thank you K! We will definitely be covering fashion more on LFM – stay tuned this week for posts on some current fashion-themed films.
And yes, it’s funny now that military chic is suddenly in. I think in addition to the Vietnam War, military chic also goes back to WWI and WWII. Many women served in these wars as nurses or in other capacities, or worked on the home front in defense factories and adopted coveralls, and khaki and navy garb because of their utilitarian value (the “Rosie the Riveter” aesthetic).
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mr. K, Libertas Film Mag. Libertas Film Mag said: Military Chic in Fashion: A Sign of Resurgent Traditionalism? … See: http://bit.ly/aHz1aO [...]
I agree with K, back in the day this was definitely a trend that came from the Vietnam War and a lot of people shopping at army surplus stores because the clothes were cheap, but then repurposing them into a “guerrilla chic” look so that they could all look like they were fighting the revolution. Woody Allen satirized the guerrilla chic trend in “Bananas.” It’s funny that it’s all coming back today.
Thank you Prehistoric Woman – I will have to watch “Bananas” again. Everything comes around again in fashion, though I have to say I prefer this more glamorous version of military chic to the grungier hippie kind from the 60s and 70s.
Oh my goodness! I would like one of those “military chic” outfits! Where can I find one that will fit my budget? Particularly liked the boots with the high heels in the first photo. $1500. for a shirt is a little out of my price range, however…think the local army surplus store will have anything that could be deemed fashionable??
Hello Looksoverpark! Yes, these outfits are fun, aren’t they? I too love the boots, will have to check Vogue to see where they are from. Of course, if they are in Vogue, they are probably out of my price range too! I did see some nice military chic things on sale at the Gap that were quite stylish and affordable. I just picked up a sand colored sweater with roll-up tabs on the arms that has a military chic quality to it, and they had some green and tan army jackets on sale too that were interesting, done in a washed silk-type fabric. And of course the local army surplus store is always great too! You can also adopt this new style by going more in the direction of the navy, with naval striped tops or things with gold navy buttons and braid on them that would be good for summer. In any case, enjoy!
That was great stuff, even if (like me) you just think men’s and women’s military-style clothes just look authoritative and striking.
I posted the first three paragraphs of this article on my blog, “The Freedom Fighter’s Journal” with a link back to this website and deleted the rest of the article. I was under the impression that this website had no problem with posting the entire article with a link, since this is tantamount to free advertisement for LIBERTAS. I do this for a number publications that fit my theme of a Second American Revolution to include TIA (The Intellectual Activist) and Warnings Signs with no complaints revceived.
In regards to my politics – I’m only a conseravtive if you consider a radical republican and revolutionist to be “conservative.”
Anyhow, in regards to the article, isn’t interesting that women’s fashions have a military look. It reminds me of the Russian revolutionary period when the para military look was in fashion.
Sic Semper Tyrannas, RONBO
Links are fine, Ronbo, but not the entire article. You do not have permission for that. We otherwise appreciate your readership.
Girls in uniform…what can I say except AROOO-YIP-YIP-AROOOO!
The inner wolf has spoken.
Welcome back Welshbard! Well, I had no idea these fashions would get you so excited. I guess I’ll just have to post some more!
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