Good Morning Vietnam

If you've never sat in the shower tray with warm water splashing over your head and torso and mimed shouting battle orders like you're in a typhoon scene from Platoon then you should. Without being too flippant about international conflict, the Vietnam War did give us a really unique take on military apparel, which is a great look right now. First, some reference pictures. All from various sources (US National Archives, etc.) via vietnamgear.com. I had a hard time cutting down to just a few pics from their great gallery so feast your eyes on these:

To get the look head over to East Asia Supply Co. who do replica pieces with real panache, examples below. I'm particularly into their pilot helmet bags which would be perfect for a weekend away, and their lovely chinos in tiger stripe camouflage from their new collection.

Unfortunately no trousers yet in the friendlier beo-gam/duck hunter/frogskin camo but its worth keeping an eye on ebay for replicas or originals, or try At The Front in the US who do them in skinny sizes too. If you're dead lucky you might even come across a pair of this reversible USMC version (via Sanforized):

Or the WWII Commonwealth version (via Just Enough):

Finally some 'short' versions too, available more commercially from Edwin and YMC (below). Jackets, from Edwin again and Supreme x The North Face, from a couple of years back.