Charles McFarlane

We know now how World War II ends, with the droppings of the atomic bombs on Japan, but no one was planning for that.

So the government was still producing clothing for the idea of a war dragging well into 1946, if not 1947.

You have basically 12 million Americans in uniform, and each of them is given clothing for all four seasons, from socks to underwear to boots to hats.

At this point, too, we have the yuppification of military clothing.

You have Woody Allen wearing military surplus to go to the art house theater in Annie Hall.

You have Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer playing a father going through a divorce, living on the Upper West Side, and he's wearing an M65 field jacket.

It's really in the post-hippie, post-Vietnam era when these things start to go mainstream.

And I think the key to that is the brand Banana Republic.