BY MUSEALIZING THE CAMOUFLAGE SUIT TO A NEW CLOTHING NARRATIVE

Abstract

The primary function of introducing the so-called “camouflage suit” or camo suit into the military and police formations in the late 1980s also had the consequence of transferring its functions to a secondary level, by the sheer proliferation of such sets used in war activities during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. For the ethnographic heritage, the challenge of the liminal status of the camouflage suit within the framework of men’s work pattern in the redefined folk economy is reflected in the short period of its establishment and use. On the other hand, its widespread use and an ongoing cultural phenomenon support the musealization of samples of such a clothing pattern, as well as the need to set up research on the impact of folk economy on clothing culture and vice versa. As camouflage suits were obtained and used in the process of integration into the everyday work pattern of members of rural communities, retired men and “weekend farmers” engaged in agricultural activities, they became a mirror image of the dissolution of late socialism as a social system in Serbia. This new status has contributed to the redefinition of the function and content of new men’s clothing patterns, in line with the broader changes in the value system and redistribution of state and social authority. Consequently, anthropologization of museological discourse creates suitable conditions for discussing the existence of the tertiary communicative role and significance of all types of military apparel, including camouflage suits.