Do you wear pieces of your collections?

I've been wondering, does anybody else here wear pieces of their collections, things like jackets, pants, coats and hats on a near day to day basis? For me I do, some of my more rare stuff I don't risk but for the most part I enjoy showing off some of my more interesting camo patterns. Just wanted to know what others think.

I wear some of my commercial stuff like my 70's vintage Tiger Stripe , during a movie shoot in Michigan , I wore a Russian VSR winter jacket at night to stay warm , and I have had several pants made into shorts for working on movies .

oh you into tv production? exactly what do you do? Im hoping to go into the business in the coming years and would love to hear from someone already in the business.

I do on set Props , assistant Prop Master , Dont do it !!!!!!!! I will go into detail later , you got to be hard to do it and have no family life , here is my IMDB page , these are just my credited , I have worked on a ton of other stuff over the last 15 years .



My IMDB page

I do wear some pieces too. Some pants or gore-tex stuff for example.

Yup.. Been known to wear lots of pieces. I wear an early Nam USAF parka or a RAF Irvin jacket in the winter, I used to wear my tanker until I got my repop tanker and 41 jackets. Did movie shoots with some of my original stuff, Living history things. My favorites were the Hunley crew burial, all my leathers, my musket, bayonet, and hat were original, and the dedication of the General Beightler memorial. There I wore my great-cousin's WW1 uniform. I still use some original things for reenacting. Most of it isn't part of the collection, just spares, but a few things are. I carry one of my TL-29's everyday.

Fins..

I wear just the jackets, mostly, but not much else. I got a couple "scrubbier" uniforms I'll wear for airsoft or paintball, but I don't wear my camo a lot, per say.

But when I do, my favourite piece to wear is my Belgian V3 camo smock. It's a cool-looking pattern and it turns head because people know it's camo, but not one they've really seen before.

I never, ever wear stuff in my collection. OK, some Polizei and dress uniforms for Halloween and what not, but other than that a big no-no. I do have a bunch of extras I bought specifically to wear, as well as beat up stuff that I cycled out of my collection over the years. Some of the stuff I wear as "beaters" are actually pretty expensive so I sometimes question why I'm wearing them, but then I think they're probably cheaper than a new pair of Levis or a jacket from LL Bean!

Steve

I used to wear Flecktarn jacket for fall time and M65 jacket with liner for winter time but not anymore because they are out of style. LOL.

Military camo is never out of style!

If I have a spare set I'd use it for airsoft games. If it's a rare piece I won't. I don't wear camouflage everyday unless I want to look like a bodyguard here in Manila. I like to wear the jackets to show off new patterns but it's not cold enough for me to wear one last year.

I wear a lot of my jackets, I love having weird ass camouflages out in public, sometimes I wear pants too (Like my blue digis. But mostly I just stick to M-65, 80's DPM, Woodland Goretex or some other stuff like that

only the field equipment, and only to see how small it really is.....and then theres the ONE jacket that fits me, its a named ECW parka in size Medium...but its damn warm, perfect for the one day out of the whole year that warranted it....otherwise, the uniforms stay in the closet, and i have other jackets to wear, now, i also own 4 or so uniforms that are my size, but they were bought new when i got them long ago....so i know which ones are which....

Having worn camouflage uniforms for the last 24 years, that would be a BIG yes. My brother a retired Army LTC advised me that I would get tired of camouflage after a few years. It has not been that way with me since his Vietnam war buddies dressed me up in their hand-me down uniforms. He was shocked when I told him what a tigerstripe nam era shirt goes for on the open collectors market.

He said we buried connex boxes full of them all brand new before we left the nam. All I wanted was one of their boonie hats, and well yeah his best friends SOG knife. Didn't get either. But to this day I have never seen his presidental medals that he got for saving P.O.W.s Someday when he is buried at Arlington, I hope that I can send something of mine with him. My beret.

But hell yes I wear some of my camouflage collection. I did it when we did Opfor and trained the troops. My favorite was the Czech rain pattern pants and an old Finnish M-62 shirt. Didn't match but it made the newbies think about what they just saw. I used to monitor the radios to listen in to their sitrep. They would tell their patrol leader that they thing U was wearing Russian pants and some homemade shirt. Man never stopped laughing. At lest they made an attempt to ID me.

My favorite of all my older DPM smocks is the 68 pattern 3/4 length Falklands smock. I put an old heavy weight fleece liner in it and that was my jeep coat. It helped me brave the cold snow and ice of both coasts. I enjoy surprising friends with some of my uniforms. I once sent a photo to Roan Gouws wearing a ski mask donning my old
surplus night desert camo set holding one of my foreign pistols. Man that woke him up.
Bruce

As for me personally, I don't wear any of my collecting collection, to me it would be like pulling out the declaration of independence & reading the thing. But I collect militaria strictly for the historical aspects of it, not to look cool at the grocery store..Not to say I have not worn a piece or 2. I once hopped into my GROM jumpsuit...slightly tight fit, but I just had to do it, I have occasionally worn a pair of British DPM trousers that fit me...lol I also have a Bulgarian camo rain jacket that fits(YES, I bought that several years ago from Steve G) But I don't wear it. HOWEVER, I do have several pairs of camo trousers I wear faithfully, but they are strictly for that purpose. I have a lawn business and my uniform is a pair of DCU trousers, and I have some commercial ACU that I run around in, but as for the rest NO WAY JOSE!! That is why it does not matter what size of uniforms I buy. I buy them for the country, the history, the pattern, not to be the talk of Walmart. But that is just me.

Steven

I do a lot of hiking in the Rocky Mountains, so yes I have. A side hobby of mine is metal detecting and geological exploration and mountain guiding...looking for that elusive gold find , geodes, and dinosaur bones which I have found lots of. I usually go all decked out with the medium Alice pack, Enhanced LBV, woodland camo pants/shirt etc. I need tough clothing and equipment because I carry lots of stuff and usually spend a few days humping it in the bush. Around town...not so much.

As for me, I think it would be VERY odd if I walked around in a WWII tanker jacket or HBT coveralls.

Since all of my collection is recent I've worn everything at least once.

in Febuary when we had almost 5 feet of snow I wore my WW2 wool overcoat out side. For a winter jacket I wear my repop M-41 field jacket or original M-43. And in the spring and fall I wear a utility shirt from the 3rd armored division. Jeep cap in the winter, HBT cap in the summer, repop rough out boots for cutting the grass... I wear it all the time. Cammo stuff on the other hand, I will only wear at home and in the yard, and only realy wear my BDU trousers.

Tyler

before when I could find stuff in my size, ie tigerstripe as a kid Id wear em to the local gun show for the big costume contests, now I only have a few nam era uniforms that still fit, but I still like to get together w/ some other collectors and do a "photo day" where we pick a year and impression, such as USMC Pilots 1965, and get dressed up and get some fun pix. Anymore with alot of my interest toward modern as well as European/USSR and Airsoft, i find myself looking for complete impressions to wear for the events, lots more fun to be able to wear it and play dress up LOL. I figure its just wasting space in the closet if I cant take it out once or twice a year for some sort of event, gets kinda lonely in the closets!!

Found this on the WW2 Reenactors board

This situation could have been avoided, if the German re-enactors stayed on site at the Fort Mifflin event.

This is a black eye for the guys on 2nd street, the WWII event at Mifflin, and our hobby.
The article is copied verbatim below.

Concertgoers show the Reich stuff, are beaten by crowd

By STEPHANIE FARR
Philadelphia Daily News

How did they Nazi this coming?

Three men who showed up in full Nazi regalia to a hardcore punk show at an Old City bar Friday night were attacked by as many as 50 people on the streets after leaving the venue, according to witnesses and club management.

The headlining band at the Khyber that night was Murphy's Law, led by front man Jimmy G, who formerly went by the moniker Jimmy Gestapo.

In an e-mail to the Daily News, Jimmy G confirmed that some guys had showed up to the concert in "full Nazi field dress."

"And they did get their asses kicked," he wrote. "Again."

Khyber owner Stephen Simons, who was not at the show, said he had been told that the crowd inside "largely ignored and mocked" the three men.

But after they exited the club, on 2nd Street near Chestnut, they were attacked by a group of up to 50 people, he said.

"I guess being on 2nd Street in SS uniforms on a Friday night is a way to incite a semi-riot," Simons said.

An attendee of the show who asked not to be named posted a blog entry about the event Saturday and removed it Sunday after receiving "really negative feedback," he said.

In the posting, he had described the men as tattooed with "Nazi-inspired symbols" and as wearing "camouflaged combat pants; woolen, WWII-era coats adorned with SS emblems and authentic Third Reich hats with Nazi insignias emblazoned atop them."

He said the crowd kicked and punched the Nazi-wannabes and used weapons that included beer bottles and cue balls, although postings on other online- message boards describe the attack as more tame.

The only information police have on the incident is that they responded to a report of a disturbance on 2nd Street at 11:33 p.m. No arrests, hospitalizations or assaults were reported, a police spokeswoman said.

Simons said it was the first time anyone had shown up at the Khyber in Nazi gear.

"As a Jew, I am totally offended by them wearing the uniforms," he said. "But, as an American citizen, I totally uphold their right to dress however they want to dress."

He said that although men dressed as Nazis were at the downstairs show, at the same time a largely gay dance party was going on upstairs.

"There was a man on the second floor wearing a wedding dress," he said. "I don't think he had any problems going out on 2nd Street."

Corpl. Cleaver wrote:Found this on the WW2 Reenactors board

This situation could have been avoided, if the German re-enactors stayed on site at the Fort Mifflin event.

This is a black eye for the guys on 2nd street, the WWII event at Mifflin, and our hobby.
The article is copied verbatim below.

I dont think this is quite the norm. Running around in a pair of pants from your collection that is camouflage is not the same as showing up to a PUNK concert in a full uniform, especially one that has such sensitive political ties. These guys are reenactors,and thats cool, but they still need to show some common sense when showing up in public. Yes they have the right to dress that way, but they need to understand that people arent going to think they are reenactors, they are going to think they are some sort of Neo-Nazi and the public doesnt exactly react kindly to that.

Sometimes I have a camo jacket on, or have a pair of pants. But NEVER both of them at the same time, I dress in specifically civilian attire otherwise. I have actually gotten quite a lot of compliments on some of the patterns I have worn, but never been mistaken for a Neo-Nazi or gotten into a fight with anybody over it. I like the look of some of the stuff I wear, especially pants...but I dont think I would ever wear anything that had insignia on it, especially one as politically charged as Nazi memorabilia.

Corpl. Cleaver wrote:Found this on the WW2 Reenactors board

This situation could have been avoided, if the German re-enactors stayed on site at the Fort Mifflin event.

This is a black eye for the guys on 2nd street, the WWII event at Mifflin, and our hobby.
The article is copied verbatim below.

Just a heads up for those not in the know , Most REAL Punkers hate the whole Nazi thing , somehow being a Skin Head got affiliated with White supremacy, and thats why real Punks will beat the S#!+ out of Nazi wannabes , this goes back a long ways , they were idiots to show up at a punk show dressed that way , they were inviting a beat down .

panzerwerk wrote:

Corpl. Cleaver wrote:Found this on the WW2 Reenactors board

This situation could have been avoided, if the German re-enactors stayed on site at the Fort Mifflin event.

This is a black eye for the guys on 2nd street, the WWII event at Mifflin, and our hobby.
The article is copied verbatim below.

Just a heads up for those not in the know , Most REAL Punkers hate the whole Nazi thing , somehow being a Skin Head got affiliated with White supremacy, and thats why real Punks will beat the S#!+ out of Nazi wannabes , this goes back a long ways , they were idiots to show up at a punk show dressed that way , they were inviting a beat down .

Agreed...if it was a White Supremest Punk band, they would have been welcomed with open arms, at any other type of punk concert, dressing as a Nazi or affiliating yourself is cruisin' for a bruisin'.