I want to apologize in advance if this article sounds like a rant because it totally is.
I'm pretty sure camo came back in style at the beginning of the year. At first, it started with the orange, blue and red patterns. I remember these pants from Forever 21, and I knew instantly it was making a comeback.
Last week, Nordstrom was having a sale on these really cute Steven Madden platform sneakers. The ones in camo were soooooo cute, but I felt weird. I felt like I was a try-hard wanna-be cadet if I got the camo pattern.
(Maria Marrugo)
But like, do you see how cute they are?! I could totally rock them with my fringe jeans! Ugh.
For a while, I thought I was being nuts for this. Am I really a shit bag if I wear camo, and I'm in ROTC? Yes. Yes, I am. Then I mentioned it to Julie, and she agreed. This entire time, I thought I was the only one that felt weird towards camo, but it turns out, it's actually a thing!
Why is that? Wouldn't you think, that people in the Army would want to wear camo since it's their uniform? And you know, Army? Why is there such a weird association? How about people that are NOT in the Army...don't you feel wrong wearing camo, when it is a uniform that represents such sacrifice?
I'm trying to understand, how people can just wear camo, and have such negative emotions towards the military. If camo is a trend, is your support for our troops a trend as well?
It's 2019, what's your excuse?
I like to throw the fact that is 2019 whenever something doesn't seem right. It's 2019, underboob is the new black, Trump is president, and cathedrals are burning. The year 2019 marks such a big change in culture, and honestly our way of life. We've made so much social progress and acceptance of others. Yet, fashion conscious is something we still lack. I understand that "distressed" attire looks cool and trendy, but it's simply disrespectful.
Disrespectful to people that can't afford clothes. There are people in this world who have to wear holes in their socks and shoes, because they can't afford to replace them. People whose hole in their t-shirt is not made by design, but by usage, and mimicking that into thinking is "cool" is rude AF.
Most trends I can live with. Like the whole choker thing, and snake print, but not camo. I get it, we're in a sensitive time where everyone wants to be offended by everything, but that's not my point. We are so detached because of material hedonistic desire that we can't realize that what we wear affects an entire population, and their sacrifice and worst nightmares.
Camo means more than Instagram likes, and fad. It's the sacrifice that only certain people do. It includes hard work and waking up at 4 a.m. even though you went to sleep at 2 a.m. No matter the nation, camo means the core of that nation, and even though the West is not as patriotic, it's about time we start getting some common decency and a more stable moral compass. The land of the free for a reason, and quite forgotten and taken for granted because we have everything.
Don't get me wrong, military humor exists, just not in the way you think it does. Although most veterans or veteran family members, won't call you out or make you feel bad about wearing camo, this is something that needs awareness. Military culture has its own humor, jargon, and culture. You can still wear camo, just know what it means and don't wear it improperly.