For quite some time I resided firmly in the army/khaki/bottle green should never be seen camp.
To be specific, I was anti-green camping since my high school uniform wearing days. Our winter uniform was an army/bottle green, drop waisted, pleated tunic. With brown tights…
Oh my god. I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to alarm you. Please stop screaming.
There’s just one tiny additional thing you should know… Included in this astonishing (that they let inmates design school uniforms) ensemble were compulsory green scungies. Don’t know what they are? Lucky you. They are 100% unbreathable unbelievable underwear you wear over your normal underwear. Because what teenage girl isn’t looking for extra junk in her trunk?
The instigator of this get up was our very goal oriented headmistress. I’m going to take a guess at one of her key KPI’s… Zero teen pregnancies.
She definitely got her bonus that year. Not only did the uniform completely camouflage that we were in fact, female, having the entire student body resemble box pleated, drop waisted shrubs, with extra large junk in their trunks, worked wonders as a (chemical free) repellent. To every boy in town.
Thankfully at some point someone noticed what was going on. My money’s on a school benefactor with a (lonely hearted) teenage daughter. Bottle/army green versus school pool fund. We got a pool.
You may have noticed though that this colour is still around. And there’s a solid reason. It actually goes with everything. Literally every colour. Except yellow. (Trust me. The Australian Olympics uniform team has done the research on this.)
Luckily, the current colour, let’s call it army green version 2.0, is a much more palatable cousin of the original colour – which I’m pretty sure was all destroyed in a ‘random’ factory fire.
Being fashion flaky means I had no trouble skipping over from the anti-green camp to the pro-green team, especially since I hate camping. But I love teams!
Over the past few seasons I’ve been building my army green 2.0 kit back up. First in? J Brand cargos. Get some if you don’t have a pair, they go with everything.
Then a camo-green shift dress from Witchery… So versatile! Works for cooler days layered with tights, boots, denim/black leather jacket. On sizzling hot days, just slip on your sandals.
Followed by a pair of Sass and Bide silk pants. They are So Comfortable. Wearing them is like lying on a couch. When you’re walking around. (Btw Nicole Ritchie was on the money when she advised against wearing parachute-style pants until you’re actually married. My S & B’s confuse my husband and if we weren’t already married, who knows if they would have been a deal breaker.)
Recently I picked up this crop army green Free People distressed jacket. It’s so distressed, weapons may have been involved in the production process… (Love that brand’s irony)
Have you been keeping count of how many army green pieces are now in my ‘drobe? Don’t be crazy, you don’t need a calculator (or an abacus – where did you get that anyway? Call Antiques Roadshow immediately. Gold mine.). Almost the same number of pieces that made up my uniform…
My advice? Let that camo-colour back into your wardrobe with open arms (preferably with a shirt on them – anyone know where I can get a silk army green button up shirt? Would look completely fab with my pale blue jeans).