Go Ahead And Dust Off Your Green Army Jacket, It's A Sign Of The Times

If you’re a Millennial or an older member of Gen Z, I want you to think about your go-to outfit in the 2010s. Most likely, it was some variation of skinny jeans, a graphic t-shirt or slouchy tank, a circle scarf, and an olive green army jacket.

Technically, it’s called a field jacket, but I don’t think many of us were calling it that back then. I remember specifically looking up “green army/utility jacket outfit ideas” on Tumblr and Polyvore before I figured out what they were actually called. Even if I didn’t have the correct name, I still thought it was the most subversive, punk-rock, and unexpected garment I’d ever seen despite it being everywhere.

I first saw it on Linda Cardellini in the short-lived 90s teen TV show, Freaks and Geeks. Then I saw it on Alexa Chung and Vanessa Hudgens. Of course, I needed one. I already had a pair of combat boots, so the field jacket felt like an obvious addition to my wardrobe. And since there was no shortage of them in military surplus shops and thrift stores (and eventually retailers like Forever21, Free People, and Old Navy), it was pretty easy to get one.

And it looks like it’s time to dust yours off again, because if you don’t already know, the field jacket is back and reporting for duty in 2025.

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I know a few of you are going to be in denial about the field jacket’s comeback the same way you were about the return of tall Uggs, but hear me out: The field jacket is a very classic piece that’s easy to style, and its return makes sense considering today’s social and political climate.

The field jacket’s story actually starts in 1940, when the U.S. military introduced the M-1941as a lightweight, hip-length coat for soldiers in the field. It was later improved with the M-1943, and finally refined into the M-65, or as we now call it, the “green army jacket.” The M-65 was practical, durable, and most importantly, protective against the wind, rain, and cold. As veterans returned home in the 1970s, many wore their jackets to anti–Vietnam War demonstrations.

From there, the field jacket seeped into pop culture and fashion history. Jane Fonda famously wore one on the Free the Army road show in 1971. The following year, John Lennon performed in one at a concert at Madison Square Garden. Robert Di Nero wore one as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver in 1975, and in 1994, Natalie Portman wore a quilted olive green jacket similar to the liners worn under the M-65 as Mathilda in Léon: The Professional.

By the time it appeared in the Marc by Marc Jacobs show in 2001 — paired with a preppy striped miniskirt and cherry-red ankle booties — the field jacket had already become the “everything jacket,” a unisex piece that looked good no matter who you were or how you styled it.

As Troy Patterson wrote in in The New York Times Magazine in 2015, the field jacket “[proved] immune to the seasonal cycles of designer fashion, retaining currency with elites despite its presence in bargain bins, losing no prestige with youth even as their elders try the same look,” which allowed it to “[develop] a status on par with that of the gold miner’s bluejeans with which it pairs so well.”

I’d argue that the 2010s was the perfect time for the field jacket to reach widespread appeal. This was the first time most Millennials remember having urgent conversations about consent, LGBTQ+ rights, and racial injustice both on and offline. (It’s interesting to note that between 2010 and 2019, the number of people using the Internet more than doubled.) Viral online movements like #MeToo, the rise of fourth wave feminism, and the normalization of calling out systemic injustice were happening around the same time we were all suddenly wearing our field jackets to music festivals and midterms.

With this in mind, it’s really no surprise that the field jacket is back. We’re living through a deeply conservative moment in American history, one in which women’s rights, queer rights, and bodily autonomy are once again being debated and restricted.

Today’s version, if you’re not going vintage, is more playful, voluminous, and in some cases, shiny, like the ones seen in Miu Miu’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection. You still have the option to wear your field jacket with jeans and combat boots, but there are ways to make it feel fresh. One of the easiest ways? Pairing it with the current, on-trend baggy jeans instead of skin-tight skinnies.

I remember girls on campus accessorizing their field jackets with piles of chunky silver chains and statement necklaces. Why not channel that same energy with interesting pins and brooches? I also love the idea of pairing the field jacket with a romantic blouse, denim culottes and tall, slouchy boots, or a sexy, slightly clingy midi skirt like Bella Hadid (this off-duty look of hers in 2022 lives rent-free in my mind). But if you’re really trying to revive the soft-grunge Tumblr era, try wearing it with a tartan midi skirt and some freaky shoes or take some inspiration from Victoria Beckham’s Fall/Winter 2025 collection and pair it with thigh-high sheer socks and loafers.

It’s safe to say the field jacket isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and at this point, I’m done fighting the trends I wore in the 2010s. If history has shown us anything, it’s that this jacket always knows exactly when to make an entrance. Now I just need to figure out where mine went.

— Ashliene McMenamy

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