Attention! Understanding the enduring appeal of armywear on the runway

From a colour palette of khaki and olive green to military tailoring and endless pockets, utility chic is back on the catwalk for Spring-Summer 2025, but why?

Why are we so fascinated with military dress in fashion? I can understand it when we’re talking about 19th-century women’s riding habits – then it was all about braid and frogging and epaulettes. I can understand it for the Beatles in the 1960s with their Sergeant Pepper outfits. Lovely colours and, yes, more epaulettes.

But as warfare has changed, military dress has changed. Now it’s all about blending in. Frogging has been replaced with webbing. Rich colours with camouflage. Epaulettes with pockets. Dress uniforms might still sport a shiny button or two, but that’s the best you can hope for.

And yet, it is this duller iteration of military dress that we see on the runway for Spring-Summer 2025. At Sacai, there was a parade of khaki trousers and crisply tailored grey jackets with multiple pockets. 

At Mugler, we have characteristic cinched waists and oversized shoulders but, still, olive green coats with high collars and more pockets. At Hermès, there were utilitarian boiler suits and trench coats and slacks in a festival of khaki and – again – more pockets than you could shake a stick at. 

I understand the appeal. As a teen, I was passed down a 1970s Israeli army surplus jacket by my best friend’s bleach-blonde, and very glamorous, older sister. It is nipped in at the waist, made of stiff wool and has absolutely no discernible adornment. It is practical and supportive and doesn’t look remotely ‘70s. Instead, it has a timeless feel that uniforms can often have. Thanks to the Marilyn Monroe looks of the jacket’s previous owner, it feels distinctly 1940s to me. Wearing it throws me back to a time when women had an opportunity to show they could do anything. When I shrug it on, I become Rosie the Riveter, with all of her resilience and capability. 

There is a feeling, hinted at but not fully articulated, that we want clothes that make us feel similarly ready for anything in 2025. Clothes that allow for movement and practicality in a time characterised by so much uncertainty. At Burberry, a brand famously linked with military wear, fabrics were sturdy and waterproof, collars were high to protect throats from the cold and coats were firmly belted in a no-nonsense kind of way. 

But there can also be something defiant about bringing the tropes of militarywear to the runway – something decidedly punk. Borrowing the garb of those whose lives are characterised by order and control and subverting it. Looking forward to Autumn-Winter 2025, this subversion can be seen in the latest collection from Comme des Garçons. Rei Kawakubo’s show was aptly called To Hell with War. In it, classic military shapes and colours are paired with clown-like, oversized shoes, flower-bedecked helmets and colourful patchwork. Much like my own beloved jacket, these items feel like army surplus, worn by whoever happened across them and remixed to create something bolder and freer.

Back in Spring and Summer, Ellen Hodakova Larsson was doing her own reinterpretation of the army classics and, indeed, clothing in general. Taking a make-do-and-mend approach, Hodakova saw cargo pants reimagined as jackets, wellington boots as skirts and belts as everything. 

Perhaps the enduring appeal of army clothing is exactly this: that its utility can either allow us to focus on more important things or offer up opportunities to play with its seriousness.