How to make the military print stand to attention in your wardrobe.

It would be wrong to say that camouflage is “back” – we’re pretty certain it never really went away. The functional print – or rather, genre of prints – has served as a shorthand for a muted-but-impeccably-masculine style ever since it first migrated from the parade ground to civvy street. But, yes, more recently designers have been splashing it on everything from coats to bags, as well as playing around with colour (it’s louder) and fit (it’s looser). So how can you grab a piece of the action, but without being too gung-ho? Follow the commands below, and you’ll find yourself ascending seamlessly through the style ranks.

The fundamental thing to remember when adopting camo print is not to go all-out GI Joe. The only jungle you’re required to blend into is the urban one, and you don’t want to be mistaken for a wing-nut survivalist or a TA/paintball obsessive like Gareth from The Office or Mike from Spaced. This gentleman has the BDE to carry off the (full metal) jacket, but tamps down the Desert Storm vibe by teaming it with understated pieces in non-shouty colours: a white tee, a pair of navy sweatpants, a green tote, and even a pair of very-much-non-military-issue amber-framed sunglasses.

It would seem that this gentleman has been closely studying legendary Chinese general Mr Sun Tzu’s classic treatise The Art Of War, chiefly the bit that counsels: “Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness.” How else to account for the rakish sliver of camo revealed by the turn-back cuffs on his otherwise impeccably pacific tan jacket? It takes a certain kind of quiet confidence to let the print pop against the muted tones of the rest of the outfit, from the navy knit to the stone-coloured chinos; but then, as Mr Sun Tzu also exhorts, “Know yourself and you will win all battles.”

Camo and tweed? Chalk and cheese, surely? This gentleman proves that parade ground rules were meant to be broken by topping off a winningly louche Nouvelle Vague look – checked jacket, dark polo, lived-in jeans, natty Borsalino – with a camo-print parka, which has the dual effect of giving the Ivy-inspired trappings some extra edge, while cooling down the coat’s combative connotations. If Mr Jean-Luc Godard had directed Apocalypse Now, this is the outfit he surely would have sported while doing so – and, fittingly, it leaves us breathless.

“War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing,” declared Mr Edwin Starr, but that’s not strictly true; military-inspired innovations have brought us such modern-day civilian necessities as duct tape, superglue, the internet, and now the camo-print backpack, as seen on catwalks from Off-White to Valentino to Alexander McQueen. The perfect gateway drug for the camo trend, the backpack differs from its military kitbag cousin in that: a) you can play it off against other patterns and colours, as this gentleman does; and b) you don’t have to fill it with 65kg-worth of gear and attempt to heft it up the nearest mountainside.

Two ways in which the modern camo print stands apart from its martial inspiration: the colours are often neon-bright (such as in this pair from Balenciaga), reflecting an urge to stand out rather than fade into your chosen terrain; and the fit is more relaxed, rather than tailored with military precision. This gentleman shows us how it’s done, with a snappy left-right-left in a pair of loose-fitting trousers that positively revel in their steel grey-midnight blue-mustard yellow palette. He anchors them with some pristine white sneakers, leaving the must-try-harder orangey-red of the traffic cone conclusively outmanoeuvred.

By now, you’ll have noted the camo print’s endless versatility; it can enliven any aspect of an outfit, from socks to shirt cuffs. But, much like a live grenade, it needs to be handled with care, lest it blows up in one’s face. You may think a camo-print puffer jacket is a step too far – surely something so expansive and utilitarian works best in a basic colour? But the likes of Canada Goose’s olive camo puffers prove that the print can even conquer the Arctic wastes, as long as it’s not too garish to spook the polar bears. This gentleman has it right; tone it down just enough to warm things up nicely.

Final proof that the new way to wear camo print is less tour of duty and more permanent furlough; if you were to turn up at barracks like this gentleman – slack-jacketed, sleeve-rolled, multi-braceleted, camp-collar-shirted, generously-bearded, collar-length-haired – you’d be looking at an extended stretch of potato peeling at best, a dishonourable discharge at worst. But in style circles, this look perfectly encapsulates the current print-heavy, dressed-down aesthetic – so much so, you might just find yourself awarded the Distinguished Service Order (panache division).

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