Exploring the adornment and customisation of military uniform by the mountainous hill tribes of the Vietnamese Highlands.

Through the modification of MA-1 bombers, utility vests and M65 cargo pants, garments experiment with the ways in which military uniforms – designed to avoid any individualism – are customised and humanised by indigenous peoples.

The colourful Kilim Stripe Cotton Powerloom is inspired by vintage hand-woven textiles, from the former Persian Empire to Peru, fused with U.S. Army iconography.

The capsule also nods to Francis Ford Coppola’s legendary ‘Apocalypse Now’, which popularised the Vietnamese hill tribes. The film sees Dennis Hopper as the ‘Photojournalist’ – manically disappearing into the mountains, where he finds the iconic hill tribe embroidered shirt, which has been reproduced for AW20 in a crushed hemp.

Photography – Tom Fletcher
Styling – Dan Pacitti & Charlie Hibbert