As I was gathering pins, patches, and whatnot from clothing, bags here, boxes there, and wherever I littered them in/on my stuff, I was thinking about the uniform and if it would be less, or more, acknowledged today than in the past. My gut reflex is to think it would be even more frowned upon than in the past. Even with the volatile political climate and the paramilitary wingers (or maybe because of them), the black and/or gray surplus uniform would more readily stand out in our homogenized society. Maybe it is nothing more than my convoluted sense of what is acceptable today and what was common yesterday in big cities that makes me think a person in all black with bloused pants and boots would be frightful to some now, where as in 1985, it would barely get a second look. I haven't been to a punk show in a long time, but back then, the uniform was a dwindling aspect of the culture. It had become so rote that it had been discarded by most. Maybe it would again have impact today.
