KHAKI TROUSERS–

AND NOT JUST ANY PAIR, EITHER.

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PHOTOFEST: (Ronald Reagan in Hellcats of the Navy, 1957) © Columbia Pictures.

I HAVE AMASSED ABOUT A MILLION PAIRS OF VINTAGE U.S. MILITARY KHAKI TROUSERS, BUT THE BEST ARE THE REAL McCOY’S, WHICH ARE BETTER THAN THE REAL McCOY. THIS JAPANESE BRAND GOES TO EXCRUCIATING LENGTHS TO REPLICATE EVERY DETAIL.

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PHOTOFEST: (Peter Sellers in The Party, 1968) © United Artists.

YOU CAN THANK SIR HENRY LAWRENCE.

LAWRENCE WAS A BRITISH MILITARY OFFICER STATIONED IN INDIA IN THE 1840s AND A GUY WHO SHARED MY STRONG BELIEF IN PERSONAL COMFORT. BECAUSE OF THE EXTREME HEAT, HE TOOK TO WEARING HIS LIGHTWEIGHT PAJAMA BOTTOMS ON DUTY, CAKING THEM WITH DIRT (KHAKI MEANS “SOIL COLOR” IN URDU) TO MAKE THEM LOOK LIKE HIS UNIFORM. HIS BUDDIES FOLLOWED HIS EXAMPLE, AND EVENTUALLY ARMIES AROUND THE GLOBE DID TOO.

Chinos are a derivative of khakis. The pants were modeled after British military uniforms, but because there was a need to conserve fabric, chinos had flat fronts and few, if any, pockets.