Aquilano.Rimoldi

An element of romance accompanies times of war – love for our troops, dedication to our country, a fascination with foreign lands and lonely soldiers. The fashion industry uses this inspiration time and again as both accents and focal points in a continual resurgence of summer’s paramilitary trend.

Sporting the military trend takes too much testosterone for some women and tired khakis and repeat cargos create fatigue. To keep the look fresh, designers paired paramilitary pieces like strong shoulders, camel chinos and combat-inspired boots and sandals with more feminine pieces and exposed skin. See also: legs. Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton and DSquared² paired olive and camel toned military-inspired jackets with short skirts and dresses. The look replaces and updates the classic cardigan for breezy evenings or chilly air conditioning. For our part, we fell in love with Marc Jacobs expertly tailored coat and forest chiffon skirt and Aquilano.Rimoldi’s soldierettes in white (left). To try the look for less, check out Gilt.com’s McQ olive army blazer or the Ernie Brinie sample sale.
For footwear, all over Soho ladies are pairing the formerly intense footwear with floral dresses and feminine skirts. Elle editor Joe Zee says go ahead and rock cargo boots at the beach. To keep it light on the feet, try Rag & Bone’s beige canvas combat boot or beige strappy wedges.
Emma Dinzebach