The Vietnamese War was a convoluted and irreducible stain on the world’s history. There’s North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese – a yet-to-be unified nation composed of a multitude of groups, funded by a variety of non-Vietnamese backers – and then there’s everyone with Neo-Imperialist interest fueling and appropriating the conflict for ideological and political gain.
One of these backers was the United States, who, in between Agent Orange-ing the shit out of the entire country of Vietnam, managed to wage one of the most unsuccessful – yet devastating – wartime-L’s in the history of warfare.
The U.S. Special Forces, though, while being equipped in their trademark Green Berets, also bought an entire set of Tiger Camouflage print from Japanese Intelligence Services, and then kindly gifted it to the Southern Vietnamese forces they were funding.
This print has now found itself reinvigorated by Maharishi’s Bally, where the brand has, typically, found a way to unify Eastern and Western ideals, while subverting their historical differences. If anything, it’s the absolute manifestation of a utopian endeavour.
As an extension of this, Maharishi’s Bally is the ultimate unifier: it diminishes the efforts of one of the world’s most detested and brutalist military groups, while harmonising it with the struggle of a subverted and down-trodden populace. Far more than a winter accessory, this piece is, (perhaps, unintentionally) a piece of anti-imperialist symbolism.
Anyway: wear this bally with pride, as you arm yourself with clothing that, like the flux of karma or the contingent nature of the yin-yang, has managed to make peace with dichotomy.
It’s available from John Anthony, wear you can browse more of Maharishi’s Eastern-tinged and politically-divisive wears.
