Past & Prescence

My father has an olive green military jacket that he wore a lot while we were growing up. It had belonged to his father, an army man who died in '71 during the Liberation War between Pakistan and Bangladesh. I never got to meet him and really wish I had, as he was one of those larger-than-life characters everyone still loves to tell stories about. Despite being fairly young, I could tell that the jacket was something special to my father, and as a result, I thought he looked really great when he wore it. Perhaps it was just the way it was cut, but he seemed to stand a little straighter in it and it felt as if it carried with it all the dusty weight of his memories. I'm sure it's an exaggeration of my mind, but whenever I think of it, I picture faint dust clouding off of it as he pulled it on and went about his Sunday errands.

Perhaps that memory has something to do with why I like the look of military jackets. It's hard to find a good one these days that isn't overwrought with unnecessary details. This one manages to be stylish without being too fussy, and I love the color. Nice Collective Blitz Jacket, $363 @ Standard Style.

Photo credit: www.standardstyle.com