Sixteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Khaki has permeated our culture on many different levels. It is associated with the military, casual wear, and certain lifestyles that include ‘preppy,’ the archaeologist/world traveler (who could forget Indiana Jones!), and the 1960s protestors. But what exactly is khaki? Is it a color, a fabric, or a cut of clothing, or something more? The word ‘khaki’ is a derivation of the Persian genitive word for ‘dust colored.’ The color itself has not remained the same over time, varying from yellowish-drab to dark greens, pinks, and grays. It later became associated with specific fabrics based on structure and fiber type as it moved from one culture to the next via trade and colonization. Various European and American expatriate troops adopted one or more of these fabrics as a staple to provide a consistent uniform appearance as well as a functional ploy to keep uniforms ‘clean’ from the grime of military life. Khaki also began to collect different names on its journey from one culture to another. Army cloth, chino, and suntan were some of these secondary names. In some cases, the cloth also became a style of clothing, i.e., chino. This study focuses on tracing the cultural history of khaki’s movement from function, to regimented military use, to popular culture appropriation to understand how the ‘idea’ of khaki influences the design of objects that are designated as khaki.