Alexis Petridis: War games

I can understand how designers wound up suggesting men dress in clothes that resemble military uniforms, even if I'm not sure it's a look that's going to take off, largely because there's traditionally something a bit peculiar about people who dress up like they're in the army when they're not. Menswear has been heavy on the epaulettes and brass-buttoned pea coats for years now: a more wholesale appropriation of the military look – with caps and jumpers differentiated from found in a surplus store only by their price tag – is just a step on from that. Alas, not everything about the trend is so easy to understand. At least one magazine has developed it further by shooting a fashion spread that seems to be based either on Operation Overlord or Operation Plunder , the crossing of the Rhine river in March 1945: cue rain-swept models posing in four grand jackets and Alexander McQueen balaclavas amid tanks, etc. As with the recent incident in which Mac make-up launched a collection it later claimed was "in no way inspired" by the murders of more than 100 women in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juárez – even though it contained a selection of deathly hues called things like Border Town and, oh dear, Juárez – it's one of those moments when even the seasoned fashion observer might gasp afresh at the sheer arse-brained stupidity it can muster when it tries. Here are people who have looked at the invasion of occupied Europe – Omaha Beach an abattoir, 1,000 Allied soldiers a day killed during Plunder – and immediately thought: yeah, great overcoats. The mind boggles. • Alexis wears Jacket and trousers, from a selection at Burberry . Boots, £65, from Topman . Photograph: David Newby for the Guardian. Grooming: Charlotte Lowes at Mandy Coakley.