{"product_id":"40s-wwii-u-s-army-u-s-m-c-frogskin-camouflage-short-jacket-size-44l-overalls-modified","title":"[~40's] WWII U.S.ARMY\/U.S.M.C Frogskin Camouflage Short Jacket Size.44L \"Overalls Modified\"","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA ‘Frogskin Camouflage Short Jacket’ of the U.S. Army \/ Marine Corps, estimated to date from around the 1940s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDid the American forces ever have a jacket like this — that was my first thought on finding it.\u003cbr\u003eAnd with reason, because this was not a jacket to begin with.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe original was a one-piece: coveralls, with top and bottom joined.\u003cbr\u003eA previous owner cut it clean across, somewhere below the chest pockets, and remade it as a jacket.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo be honest, I would not have the nerve to do this myself.\u003cbr\u003eTaking scissors to an eighty-year-old one-piece is not something one manages easily. This piece was already in this state when I found it, so in that sense you may wear it without any misgivings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cut edge has simply been whipped over, roughly and without ceremony.\u003cbr\u003eThat roughness is, on the contrary, what makes it good. Someone decided the length for themselves, with their own hands. That trace remains exactly as it was.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis camouflage is what is called frogskin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdopted by the American forces in 1942, it was the country's first camouflage pattern in earnest.\u003cbr\u003eThe way its rounded spots overlap resembles the back of a frog, and so it came to be called by this name.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat is interesting is the account that the pattern was designed not by a soldier but by the editor of a horticultural magazine.\u003cbr\u003eThe idea was to transpose, straight onto cloth, the shadows and dapples of light cast by the leaves of plants.\u003cbr\u003eOnce you are told, these irregular spots really do begin to look like sunlight through the trees, don't they.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd there is one more pleasure in this cloth: it is reversible.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe face is a green scheme for the jungle; the reverse a brown one, matched to sand and dry ground.\u003cbr\u003eA different pattern was printed on each side of a single cloth, the intention being to turn it inside out according to the environment of the theatre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo it is with this piece: open the front and a pale brown camouflage appears from within.\u003cbr\u003eThe contrast of the two schemes is genuinely beautiful, and simply wearing it open lets you enjoy both expressions at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsed in the Pacific theatre, the pattern flowed out into civilian hands in great quantity after the war.\u003cbr\u003ePrized as clothing for hunting, it is known today by the alternative name of \"duck hunter camo\".\u003cbr\u003eA pattern standing at the very starting point of the history of camouflage, one might fairly say.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet us look, in turn, at the details that define the model.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth sides of the chest carry flap pockets with gussets.\u003cbr\u003eA gusset is the surplus cloth folded into the side of a pocket, which lets the bag swell out in three dimensions when something is put in.\u003cbr\u003eA make thoroughly of military wear, premised on stuffing equipment inside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe flaps fasten with black snap buttons.\u003cbr\u003eThat black works as the one achromatic note within the green and brown camouflage, and makes an unexpectedly good accent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe front is a zip closure concealed by a fly.\u003cbr\u003eThe slider carries a \"TALON\" stamp — the old American maker that supported the earliest days of the zip, and that stamp alone makes the dating considerably surer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInside, at the back, the size marking \"44L\" remains, and beneath it what appears to be writing by a previous owner.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is too rubbed to read, but such traces surviving are, in a military piece, the greatest attraction of all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cloth is HBT — herringbone twill — the pride of the American forces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWoven by alternating the direction of the twill, so that a chevron like the leaf of a cedar rises on the surface of the cloth.\u003cbr\u003eStronger than a plain twill and, on top of that, breathable. A cloth chosen for soldiers fighting in the punishing tropics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook closely and the ridges of that chevron emerge clearly from beneath the printed camouflage.\u003cbr\u003eEighty years have made it thoroughly soft, yet the cloth has not lost its own body even now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHBT in 100% cotton grows a little softer with every wash, and the camouflage fades pale where it rubs.\u003cbr\u003eThis piece has already dried out well, but from here it will dry out again in another way entirely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe colour is a frogskin camouflage based on olive and brown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCompared with modern camouflage, the saturation is low and the number of colours restrained.\u003cbr\u003ePrecisely for that reason it does not stand out in town; if anything it gives a settled impression.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome may brace themselves at the word \"military\", but with this pattern there is no need for concern.\u003cbr\u003eWorn with black slacks or a charcoal bottom, it should settle in very smartly indeed as a patterned outer layer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe length is short and the hem left raw, so layering with a longer piece beneath, peeking out from the hem, would be interesting too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe size marking reads \"44 L\".\u003cbr\u003eRoughly equivalent to a Japanese \"M\", I should think.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs it began as coveralls, it is made very generously, on the assumption of clothing worn beneath.\u003cbr\u003eThe body and the armholes are both taken amply, so a heavy knit or a sweatshirt underneath should present no trouble at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are signs of use — soiling, abrasion, fraying, small holes and traces of repair — but no significant damage that would affect wear, so there is plenty of life left in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSome fraying is visible on part of the zip tape, so please handle it with a little care when opening and closing. As it stands, there is no problem with the action itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease note that this piece is an original one-piece modified by a previous owner.\u003cbr\u003eI should be grateful if you would take that point into account.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaking this cloth today would probably not be impossible.\u003cbr\u003eBut that it was worn somewhere in the Pacific eighty years ago, had scissors taken to it somewhere in America after the war, and then crossed the sea to be here in Japan —\u003cbr\u003ethat route alone can never be reproduced.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWithin one garment, the decisions of owners from two different eras are inscribed.\u003cbr\u003eI should like to entrust what comes next to its following keeper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VIEUX ET NOUVEAU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47982196949170,"sku":"J01102","price":148000.0,"currency_code":"JPY","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0554\/2140\/3314\/files\/J01102-1_1535946f-f511-40d7-a685-c6bf6d8fec52.jpg?v=1788334831","url":"https:\/\/vieuxetnouveau-shop.com\/en\/products\/40s-wwii-u-s-army-u-s-m-c-frogskin-camouflage-short-jacket-size-44l-overalls-modified","provider":"VIEUX ET NOUVEAU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}