Camo is the new Tie Dye. It’s everywhere: camo print shirts, camo print pants, camo backpacks, camo bedsheets (do these disguise the bedroom or just the clutter?), even camo Easter eggs (for X-treme hunts!), Camo comes in Forest, Desert or Urban Jungle, Blue or Pink, Brown or Green, Black and Grey.
But here’s my question: what does it mean? When I was a kid, folks who went hunting, or soldiers, or little boys who dreamed they were soldiers wore camoflauge. Now everybody wears it—on fashions that don’t look remotely like hunting gear or army surplus. Hard Rock Barbie wears camo (“Hard Rock’s Barbie® Pink steals the spotlight in a pink camouflage ensemble with skull and crossbone motif. She’s not your mama’s Barbie®!”) Babies can be fashionable in their “camonesies.” Even your dog can get a camo tank top.
Fabric patterns and prints are like wearable fonts-they convey a mood, an attitude. Is this communication a Comic Sans MS moment, or is Times New Roman more appropriate? How would you have to feel to wear a Houndstooth Check? Argyle? A Burberry Plaid?
People are talking all the time—even when they don’t speak a word. So what does it mean when a nation moves from tie dye to camo?
Could we get all presidential candidates to deck themselves out in Camo and thus become invisible,
and silent?
Tie dye has faded so can Camo also fade or is it color fast?
I have supposed it was some kind of “support our soldiers” statement, at least at first. It doesn’t appeal to me, probably because I can’t get the combat connection out of my head. Maybe people have some subconscious need to feel protected? Of course pink and blue don’t blend into much of anything unless you’re in a crowd that’s garbed in same. Hmmmm…
Dad, you’re first comment is right on!
No lie! I’m sitting in the DMV “just musing” on the subject of camo, I briefly glance up to take in my surroundings, and there is a man in camo standing right in front of me. My favorite camo style name is “tree bark,” just for the record. Who gets paid to come up with these things?
Camo trucks at NPR: Did you know they’re like women’s shoes? Check it out.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100019895
camo eggs how cool is that. Though I don’t really
get the point of camo easter eggs. They could be
fun for easter egg hunts because they’re hard to find in forest like places!
🙂