Great article. I agree the tension between competence and performance is where it gets interesting. The line between field-smart adaptation and aesthetic drift is never stable, and that instability is part of what makes ‘allyness’ such a productive lens.
Andrew, Thank you so much for the comment! Great to see you on Substack and looking forward more essays from you. I really do attribute my entering Costume Studies to your work at Westminster Menswear Archive. It really showed me that there was a patch to studying uniforms and culture that I didn’t know existed until then. Thank you.
Canadian military slang has (had?) LCF, or Look Cool Factor. Cutting down the brim of your boonie hat to a 1.5" ribbon for the LCF, or getting the bottom pockets of your tunic re-sewn on the the arms (c.f. USA Raid blouses). Foreign military kit has LCF if you got it issued or traded for it, less if you bought it. Shemaghs and chest rigs were cool for awhile, now they're so common as to be unremarkable. Anything issued to elite troops is cool by default, from sniper smocks to Arc'teryx Alpha jackets. With the rise of the tactical gear industry through the GWOT, true uniformity has largely gone out the window.
Thanks for the insight from up North. I hadn’t come across LCF, but I have heard of “CDI” or “Chicks Dig It.” I found that in some research on the US Army testing MultiCam. Happy to have you as a reader and thank you as always for your comment!
Great article. I agree the tension between competence and performance is where it gets interesting. The line between field-smart adaptation and aesthetic drift is never stable, and that instability is part of what makes ‘allyness’ such a productive lens.
Andrew, Thank you so much for the comment! Great to see you on Substack and looking forward more essays from you. I really do attribute my entering Costume Studies to your work at Westminster Menswear Archive. It really showed me that there was a patch to studying uniforms and culture that I didn’t know existed until then. Thank you.
Canadian military slang has (had?) LCF, or Look Cool Factor. Cutting down the brim of your boonie hat to a 1.5" ribbon for the LCF, or getting the bottom pockets of your tunic re-sewn on the the arms (c.f. USA Raid blouses). Foreign military kit has LCF if you got it issued or traded for it, less if you bought it. Shemaghs and chest rigs were cool for awhile, now they're so common as to be unremarkable. Anything issued to elite troops is cool by default, from sniper smocks to Arc'teryx Alpha jackets. With the rise of the tactical gear industry through the GWOT, true uniformity has largely gone out the window.
Thanks for the insight from up North. I hadn’t come across LCF, but I have heard of “CDI” or “Chicks Dig It.” I found that in some research on the US Army testing MultiCam. Happy to have you as a reader and thank you as always for your comment!