When did camouflage become acceptable attire?

[horatio83]

I'm a waiter at a steak house, so I'm used to dealing with people. Most of these people are some of the nicest you'll ever meet, some are the douche-ist of the douchebags. All in all, I have over ten years of serving experience with a wide array of people. But, something has been grating on my mind here lately, and an event on Saturday night brought this question to the front of my mind.

When did camouflage become acceptable dinner attire? I'm aware that some people hunt, others are in the military. I don't have a problem with people going out to eat in BDUs. It's the people wearing pristine, clean camo that's got me baffled. "Put on your finest camo, we're going out to eat! Wooo!" This says to me that they've not done any hunting, and they're wearing it because they think it's cool.

But, the event that happened Saturday was some of the area schools were having their proms. And some boys came in wearing black tuxedos with CAMOUFLAGE VESTS AND TIES. WTF? When did this become acceptable? When did this become cool? But, most importantly, WHY did this become cool?

No idea. My uneducated guess would be for the same reason people drive SUVs in inner cities, to get the illusion of an experience (It's kind of the third generation of car advertisement. Back in the days it were utilitarian arguments, how efficient and safe is the car and so on, then came keeping up with the Joneses, cars as prestige object and now it is car as a vessel which helps you to dream. We don't evolve, we regress.) Modern life is so boring but if I wear this military stuff or drive this little monster truck I can pretend that I am in the jungle.

 

[Squiggy]

To answer the OP's question: The 70s.

 

[Dart]

I have a nice camouflage jacket, can't find it though.

 

[Pondwater]

I don't mind it. To each his/her/its own. It's like back in the 90's when people wore stuff with Kente cloth.

 

[Dantheman]

This kind of reminds me of a Dave Berg "The Lighter Side Of" strip from Mad Magazine, where a college girl asks a fellow male student, who's wearing an all-camo outfit, if there's any significance or reason he's wearing it, and he says he just likes the fact that he can wear it for months on end without changing it, because the camo pattern hides stains.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

My wife looks hot in camo... especially when it's skimpy!

Wouldn't that defeat the point of the camo?

Anyway, it's been at least reasonably popular ever since I remember out in rural areas (and we're talking Northeastern Maryland too) so I suspect Kentucky would be far more prevalent. In 90% of the circumstances, I don't see the big deal either way.

Although a friend of mine did go to a wedding in Kentucky (sensing the pattern?) where everyone on the groom's party wore camo. She, on the otherhand, had to buy an expensive red dress.

 

[Melakon]

I saw people on college campus in the early 70s wearing camo, and not all of them were veterans. Even though Vietnam was an unpopular war, there were still a few imposters/poseurs/military buffs during it who wanted you to think they were ex-military.

 

[wissaboo]

The thing I don't understand is pink camo. Where exactly does that help you hide? I also don't understand the digicam pattern, are we hiding inside a computer monitor that we need to be pixelated?

But as for tux accessories coming in camo pattern... you can get vests and ties patterned in cartoon characters, so why not camo?

pink camo is my pet peeve. Where would you hide in that? the field where Horton loses his clover?

 

[Tora Ziyal]

...we're talking Northeastern Maryland too...

Cecil County?

pink camo is my pet peeve. Where would you hide in that?

In a cluster of little girls who watch too many princess movies?

 

[TheSeeker]

^Blending in at a Brony convention?

 

[Triskelion]

When will people who wear camouflage get the message???

Fit in!!! Stop sticking out!!!

Wait a minute - who's really wearing the camoflage here?

^Camouflage.

 

[sojourner]

My wife looks hot in camo... especially when it's skimpy!

Wouldn't that defeat the point of the camo?

Anyway, it's been at least reasonably popular ever since I remember out in rural areas (and we're talking Northeastern Maryland too) so I suspect Kentucky would be far more prevalent. In 90% of the circumstances, I don't see the big deal either way.

Although a friend of mine did go to a wedding in Kentucky (sensing the pattern?) where everyone on the groom's party wore camo. She, on the otherhand, had to buy an expensive red dress.

Why is there an ad for HP in your post??

ETA: NM, now that I refreshed, it's gone. That was odd.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

^ Please buy our crappy computers and printers!

Cecil County?

I believe so. Either that or Hartford County.

 

[Nerys Myk]

While it may serve a function in a military of hunting context, its also a pattern/design in a fashion sense no different than stripes, dots or paisley.

 

[EmoBorg]

Girls in camo skirt are hot and the skirts can come in a wide array of camo colors.

7

 

[Mike Farley]

Believe it or not, pink blends in quite nicely in certain desert environments.

Las Vegas, especially.

Las Vegas camo: