How to stand out, for all the right reasons, in camouflage prints and zebra stripes.

The art of concealment is one that predates our own species. Natural selection dictates that, by merit of not being eaten, the best-disguised members of the animal kingdom will pass on their genetic information to the next generation – assuming they can find a mate (or, indeed, a mate can find them). But while we’re not suggesting you should challenge an octopus, chameleon or stick insect to a round of hide and seek, clothing has allowed homo sapiens to adapt, take this knack further, and, in many cases, perfect it.

The standard “camouflage” print adopted by the fashion industry is a four-colour, high-contrast disruptor pattern first rolled out by the US military in 1981, earning it the moniker “Woodland M81”. It is in turn a variant of the ERDL “Leaf” pattern developed by the US Army shortly after WWII, but not used in the field until 1967. And while M81 has since been replaced first by the Universal Camouflage Pattern and, from next year, Operational Camouflage Pattern (originally codenamed, rather gratifyingly, “Scorpion W2”), it should still hold its own in the jungles of Southeast Asia – where we hope you’re more likely to engage in open-water tubing rather than open warfare. However, in the context of the urban environment where M81 is increasingly deployed, it tends to stand out rather than blend in, which you feel for designers might, perversely, be the point.

Nature might like its critters to be hard to spot, but it abhors a vacuum – seeing a gap in the market, a number of designers have stepped in to provide civilian clothing that offers concealment in actual real-world situations. Take Aztech Mountain’s Ashcroft Camo sweater, which, when worn for the apres-ski, would have you match seamlessly with your surroundings – this may or may not prove problematic when trying to get the bar attendant’s attention should you wish to order a glühwein.

A form of camouflage that works through confusion rather than concealment, zebra stripes utilise what is called “motion dazzle” to distort perceptions of speed or size, in the same way the herringbone suits worn by breakfast TV presenters in the 1980s played havoc with analogue televisual equipment. When stalked by a predator on the open plains of the African savannah, you can’t hide, but you can run. Equally, this half-zip sweater by Stüssy, when worn during the morning dash for the bus, should perplex the driver to the extent that he or she waits for you to board before tearing off.

Another environment the modern urbanite is more likely to find themselves in than the tropical bush is the art gallery, and happily you can now look at home within this setting thanks to an array of paint-splattered garments currently available on MR PORTER. This T-shirt by Off-White for one should allow the wearer to stand undisturbed in front of an artwork by Mr Jackson Pollock.

And finally, a piece suitable for this digital age, this organic cotton-canvas jacket by Nudie Jeans reimagines the foliage pattern of the ERDL family of military camouflaging as seen through the kind of pixelated Google Earth representation you would in fact experience with the sporadic 3G coverage available deep in the woods.

In all, these are the patterns to be seen in this season. Or not, as the case may be.

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