Camouflage has had its fair share of a bad reputation. From 'All Saints' matching combat trouser ensembles to Jodie Marsh's scant boob belt get-up, the number of times the print has been mis-used and abused is countless. Therefore it's about time that the camo print got some respect again with the first real comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the subject of Camouflage having just started at the Imperial War Museum in London. Replacing the colourful military uniforms of the 19th century, a unit of French camofleurs devised dazzling patterns using Cubist techniques to hide equipment and uniforms. This then further developed during the Second World War where a team of creative minds like Surrealist painter Roland Penrose and architect Hugh Casson were employed to figure out how pattern could conceal and deceive.

The exhibition then explores how in recent decades camouflage has entered popular culture not as a way of hiding away but actually as a way of standing out. Camouflage entered the arena of music via people like The Clash, Madonna and Public Enemy. Through different facets of fashion, the camouflage print has also obviously infiltrated. When worn out of a military context, the print loses practical purpose but gains entirely different connotations depending on how it is used and on display at the exhibition is a wild variety of camo uses. Streetwear by Marharishi, couture by John Galliano, Philip Treacy and Jean Paul Gaultier and even a ballet costume created by Gerald Scarfe for the English Ballet Company's production of Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker'. With nineties redux in fashion fully in swing at the moment, perhaps camouflage will somehow make that comeback call.

Camouflage exhibition on until 18th November at the Imperial War Museum, London

www.iwm.org.uk