Customer Reviews

Khaki: Cut from the Original Cloth

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Whoever would have believed that you could produce a beautiful, interesting book of photographs of people in khaki trousers, but here is is. KHAKI: CUT FROM THE ORIGINAL CLOTH is a collection of over 100 photographs by sixty-six photographers including George Platt Lynes, Duane Michaels, Herb Ritts, Weegee, Edward Weston, Annie Leibovitz, Henri Cartier-Bresson, William Claxton, Richard Gere, Allen Ginsberg, Greg Gorman, Milton H. Greene, Philippe Halsman, Robert Capa, George Hurrell et al. There are photographs of the rich and/or famous as well as ordinary souls: the Kennedys, Audrey Hepburn, James Dean, Paul Bowles, Teddy Roosevelt, Clark Gable (at least three times), General Douglas MacArthur, Marilyn Monroe (thought she isn't in khakis), Amelia Earhart et al.

What makes this volume so inviting is that the photographs are all so different and I wager that you would never guess the unifying theme of khaki trousers if you didn't know that already. Some of my favorites: William Faulker (photographer unknown, p. 125. He is dressed in a coat and tie with rumpled khakis that are all too familiar to us who live in them.) Christoper Isherwood photographed by George Platt Lynes. The natural side lighting makes this fine photograph (p. 44). The series of photographs by Duane Michaels, "John Takes His Pants Off" (pp. 2-3), and what I would call a narrative photograph on page 74 of soldiers in World War II getting their feet inspected by someone I assume is an officer. (The photographer is Hulton Getty; the date is January 1, 1943). Picasso strolling on the beach with his son and his mistress photographed by Robert Capa in 1951 (pp. 126-127). Finally the most mysterious photograph of all, "Night Duty," photographed in 1941 by Weegee (p. 116). The two men appear to be guards or police officers. They are carrying pistols and wearing only caps and khaki trousers.

Gallery owner and authority on photography David Fahey (co-designer of the enormously successful exhibit of Herb Ritts "WORK" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1997) edited this most entertaining book, Elton John wrote the preface, and Richard Martin wrote a brief essay on the history of khaki. KHAKI will both surprise and delight you.

I probably should start by saying I mean no disparagement when I describe this as "just" a collection of photos, but that is what this is. It's not a history of khaki shirts and pants, a men's or women's wear styleguide, a study of traditional American, Ivy, or preppy dress, or any of the other things unobservant readers (like, well, me) might have expected this book to be. All of those elements are touched on briefly in the essay by Richard Martin that takes up all of three pages. After that, though, this book is "just" a collection of photos.

But what a nice collection of photos of people in khakis. Expertly chosen and well presented, these range from formal portraits to casual snapshots -- almost always of celebrities of one sort or another, but at least an international sampling of celebrities. I mourned, as I often do in photo collections, the fact that descriptive captions were banished to mousetype in the back of the book, until I realized the mousetype contained only the photographer's name, the title of the photo, and other basic curatorial information. So don't expect to learn much about who these people are or what they're doing in their khakis, just enjoy and even study the images themselves. For fans of the aforementioned Ivy, preppy, or trad styles, students of classic style, or people who just like interesting photos, "Khaki" might be a good book to have around.