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Camouflage goes from trench to catwalk

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-03-27 09:54

Camouflage is the subject of a quirky new exhibition at London's Imperial War Museum tracing the history of deception.[Reuters]

LONDON: Honed by artists as a tool of war to disguise and deceive, camouflage has evolved into a fashion icon used now not to blend in but to stand out.

In an intriguing clash between military and popular culture, camouflage is the subject of a quirky new exhibition at London's Imperial War Museum tracing the history of deception.

At one end of the spectrum, a World War II training film from the War Office tells troops: "Camouflage is the duty of every soldier. It is his secret weapon and, like his rifle, his best friend."

At the other end, fashion designer John Galliano underlines the irony of camouflage prints originally designed to conceal male soldiers from the enemy but now adorning women to "enhance their attractiveness to the opposite sex."

From trench to catwalk, the exhibition traces the 20th century history of camouflage, born out of the need to conceal troops and guns from aerial reconnaissance.

The first camouflage unit was set up by the French in 1915 with pioneering artists using Cubist techniques to baffle the enemy by disguising equipment and uniforms with disruptive patterns.

Gone were the days of red coats parading into battle with banners fluttering. In the First World War nightmare of trench warfare, soldiers in drab-coloured uniforms tried to meld into the mud.

Next came Dazzle, the brainchild of marine painter Norman Wilkinson who painted ships in jarring zig-zag patterns to confuse German U-Boat commanders trying to calculate their speed and course.

The exhibition's decoy section shows how the art of concealment was refined in World War II.

Perhaps the most elaborate deception in military history was Operation Fortitude, the creation of a phantom army in southern England complete with false radio traffic designed to fool the Germans in the lead-up to the 1944 D-Day landings.

In the 196Os, US Vietnam veterans demonstrating against the war wore their uniforms to hammer home their political message.

Camouflage went from being a symbol of military identity to a recurring motif in popular culture – from the outfits of pop groups The Clash and Public Enemy to the silk prints of artist Andy Warhol.

Camouflage became an anti-Establishment statement but by the 1990's fashion designers put it on everything from bikinis to bedspreads. Camouflage is now as common as tartan.

And on 21st century battlefields, the scientist has taken over from the artist, fighting to protect the soldier from deadly new battlefield threats like thermal imaging that can track them down by body heat alone.