A while ago, the Italian National Police (Carabinieri) decided to solicit ideas for new uniforms, from major Italian fashion houses…my question, did anything come of this? Has any military ever consulted fashion designers on new uniform designs? I think Armani could make military uniforms interesting!
I’m not sure how long “a while ago” is, but a webpage of the design firm Design Den Haag says that the Italian Carabinieri uniforms were designed by the Italian fashion house of Valentino.
The Russian army had renowned Russian fashion designer create new military uniforms for them in 2007, but they were not a success.
The American designer Mainbocher designed various military and civilian service uniforms in the mid-20th century. AFAICT there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking or unusual about military organizations asking fashion designers for uniform designs.
Before anyone trots out the old urban myth, Hugo Boss did not design Nazi uniforms.
Hugo Boss was a Nazi who ran a slave labour sweatshop manufacturing Nazi uniforms, but he didn’t design them.
It’s just a running joke, methinks: the best dressed police force, the best dressed allied force in the gulf, the best dressed team in the world cup.
Thanks-the Luxembourg Police have cool uniforms-but the Italians (as usual) have the best! If I’m going to be arrested, let it be by a carabinieri!
My employer hired a fashion house to design new uniforms for all the various work groups. Both for customer-facing and backstage folks.
They were a disaster because they essentially skipped function on the way to achieving fine form. And they’d also look really good only on model-shaped youthful bodies, not the real and aging ones the employee force has.
So they’ve abandoned those designs, fallen back, and re-grouped. The second attempt is going much better. So far. We shall see.