The Real Reason You're Wearing Comfortable Clothing

Every day, Americans are confronted with images of the National Guard on the streets of American cities, deployed there by the Trump Administration. Avery Trufelman had no idea the military would be THIS newsworthy when she started working on the latest season of her podcast Articles of Interest.

In the previous season, Trufelman investigated the origins and influence of American prep, which dovetailed with stealth wealth (which is what I last interviewed her about). While she was working on that series, she realized her next season would cover the link between military clothing and outdoor gear.

“The outdoor industry is a hallmark of stealth wealth. Just the idea that you could indicate that you partake in ski culture and mountain sports while being like, Oh, who — me?” she told me. “Even in the forties, khaki pants became part of fundamental preppy clothing. As we braid in the military and the outdoor industry in fashion, there is this long-running streak of blue-blooded American wealth that runs through it.”

I had never thought that deeply about why our clothes are comfortable — or what performance clothing really is. Trufelman and I had a fascinating conversation about just that, how gorpcore became a marker of the elite, and more.

(Due to the Amazon server outage yesterday, I was unable to use my podcasting software to edit this interview as a podcast in time for today’s newsletter; Subscribe to Back Row in Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and I’ll publish an extended version of this Q&A there as soon as I can.)

You pose the idea in this first episode that we are all wearing gear or performance clothing. I’m wearing a denim shirt and jeans. Am I wearing workwear?

The definition of performance-wear has changed over time. I am wearing wool pants — wool is also considered a performance fabric. Denim would definitely be considered a workwear, performance fabric historically.

Because I could go pave my driveway after we’re done talking.

Exactly. I think if we’re speaking broadly and historically it’s in opposition to clothes that only exist in the name of ornament. That’s just so alien to us — this idea of suffering, this idea that you can’t really sit but it looks really good. Or you can’t really breathe, but it looks really good.

What would those clothes be? Kim Kardashian going to the Met Gala in the John Galliano Margiela corset, and then we see the impressions that it made on her flesh in her reality show?

Maybe on the red carpet that can exist. But I feel like even for wedding gowns, people are like, I want to dance. I want to breathe. The idea of being uncomfortable — we won’t stand for it anymore. We want to live in our clothes.

Imagine the way that militaries used to look. Imagine the Revolutionary War and the British lobsterbacks — a lot of European-style military suits were suits. Elaborate ornamental versions of a three-piece suit. For a long time, when America was struggling for its identity, we were looking towards the major European powers and kind of copying them. And it wasn’t until really World War II that we were like, wait a second, what if we ask soldiers what they want?

And what did they want?

We were the first military to design from first principles. What keeps the soldier the warmest? What is the most comfortable for the soldier? It wasn’t about, what looks good on the parade ground?

The iconic olive green field jacket, which was the equivalent of gorpcore in the 1940s, just looked so unlike a little soldier suit. It was so weird-looking at the time, but it was really comfortable, it was really flexible, it was really dynamic. We declared this was an American value — we are prioritizing comfort, performance.

When I say performance fabrics, not everything has to be stretchy and sweat-wicking and the most high-tech thing. For decades now, we’ve prioritized comfort on a massive, institutionalized, government-supported scale that’s deep in our psyches.

Did you happen to see Jonathan Anderson’s men’s Dior? Or Greta Lee on the cover of Vogue wearing it? I am always throwing covers in my Instagram story with my quick commentary on them. A lot of people slid into my DMs to say, she looks like a pirate. I think it’s because she’s on a beach. But when you look at that, what do you see?

It’s definitely swashbuckling. One expert [I interviewed] talks about this theory that he has, which is that militaria gets increasingly ornate in times that feel like peace. I don’t want to say peace time, because there have been moments when it feels like the United States has been at peace, but technically we never ever have been.

This is the moment I talk about in episode one and the moments after the Civil War — the costume gets extremely elaborate and it kind of starts looking like this. And so you could read it as a statement of that. It could be a flippant peacetime statement.

The other thing it reminds me of, weirdly enough is — this is dark — but it almost looks like the Brooks Brothers livery. But then again, it also looks like the gentleman pirate jacket and the way she’s standing looks so powerful. Definitely doesn’t look like a service [person]. It’s really interesting. Jonathan [Anderson] must know what he’s doing. He’s such a genius.

Well, get ready to see those jackets, because he made them, so we’re going to see them.

You think people will actually wear them?

Celebrities, yes. Very, very, very wealthy clients of Dior, yes. What do you make of this being clothing for the elite?

It does kind of emphasize that “I am not touched by war” sort of thing. What do you think it means?

What time period does that jacket look like to you? Having just done all this research?

1770s.

Close to the French Revolution. The storming of the Bastille was July 14, 1789. Fashion mirrors society, and we’re obviously living through a time of extreme income inequality, and I think it’s fascinating to see Gilded Age references these days. I’ve been fascinated by the color brown, which we’re seeing just absolutely everywhere. The 2025 color of the year from Pantone was mocha mousse. Brown is also a bit of a Gilded Age color.

Luxury fashion appeals less and less to aspirational shoppers and more and more to high net worth people who have salespeople who work privately with them, who are spending six figures a year at these brands. So, that’s what I think about when you say that coat looks 1770s. Does that seem crazy?

I’ve been reading my friend [Ray D. Madoff]’s book that I think would be really interesting to you, The Second Estate, which is about the tax code. Something that’s really different between now and the Gilded Age is that during the Gilded Age, the tax code was a bit more functional

It was?

It was almost more fun to watch the Gilded Age. The rich were wearing tiaras and just showing it off. That’s not to say that everybody was like, “Yay.” There was not this desire [to do] what we were talking about last time — stealth wealth. You would never see billionaires like these modern Gilded Age equivalents wearing tiaras and dressing like their counterparts did back in the day, because everybody hates them because they’re basically excluding themselves from American society. “They do not pay taxes.” “They’re not one of us.” “They don’t contribute at all.” And that leads to the storming of the Bastille mentality.

This actually all comes back to the military. My friend who wrote this book has this theory that a lot of this is tied up with the abolition of the draft — that the enforcement of the estate tax code was a bit loosened once the draft was loosened.

It was so easy to get out of the draft that it was like, if you’re a rich company or a rich individual, you have to contribute. It was way more enforced. And now we have a professional army, it’s not as important for everybody to chip in in wartime. There’s less of this idea of obligatory nationwide service.

It kind of gets back to this idea of what Teddy Roosevelt was talking about in the first episode — that without war, we don’t have any uniting factor in our nation to bring us together, which is kind of fucked up. There should be something that brings us together other than war.

You also talk in the first episode about Davy Crockett, who evokes a very strong fashion image — the raccoon hat with the tail and a suede suit. Talk about why you get into his look in the podcast.

How Americans thought outdoors men should dress is a bit of a fiction. Davey Crockett is really at the heart of that — the raccoon hat and this fringy jacket. It’s this weird mix of indigenous fetishism — and he’s wearing a collared shirt underneath it.

He went shopping. He went to an indigenous woman and he bought a buckskin suit. White Americans have always gone shopping. It’s a part of American culture. They landed in a place where they did not have a culture of making clothes for this environment. They did not know how to live here. They bought from indigenous women.

What does a fringy suede pant or shirt do for you when you’re in the wilderness?

I think a lot of it was about signaling a vibe — like, I’m a rugged outdoorsman. I have this indigenous knowledge. [Also,] most people didn’t admit that they shopped.

I do think that this sort of ethos is what’s at the root of gorpcore — wanting to look rugged and wanting to buy the cool, intense, outdoorsy-looking stuff.

What does gorpcore mean to you?

I’m using the term loosely when I’m talking about Davy Crockett. It’s such a useful catchall. To me, it means wearing something outdoorsy-looking for fashion as much as function. What do you think of?

A Wall Street guy in a fleece vest? I guess I think of skiing as well, and performance slacks. I feel like we see a lot of those for men — few of them are good — but a slack that you could exercise in, but you’re probably not.

You say in the podcast, when we go outdoors — like, if we’re going to go camping, which is not something I do, but if you’re going to have an experience with nature, the first thing we do is suit up.

That’s part of why I’ve never got into camping. I never had the stuff.

What about glamping?

That always struck me as kind of weird, that it’s so expensive to go outdoors.

Last time we talked, I believe you said that you feel very confused by fashion. Do you still feel confused by it?

A hundred percent. Like, I don’t hike. This is so not my world. I don’t dress like this. Yeah, I don’t get it.

Follow Avery on Substack and tune into Articles of Interest wherever you listen to podcasts.