When terrorists attack Office Depot, we'll be ready!

March 5, 2009 9:53 AM

Urban Camouflage deals with the question how to camouflage oneself and one’s identity in the urban space. Our costumes are inspired by the «ghillie suits», the military camouflage suit. It was an adventure to wear the suit in the stores because of the conflicts with the employees, the reaction of the customers and also to see the pretty well camouflage effect in a real situation.
posted by educatedslacker (47 comments total)

That is the very, very, best of the web. Thank you.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 9:58 AM on March 5, 2009

And, ohmigod, is that first bin and ghillie suit full of little ShamWow!s? Germany is a cool place. They really do make good stuff!
posted by Turtles all the way down at 10:01 AM on March 5, 2009

This is why the Internet is.
posted by sonic meat machine at 10:03 AM on March 5, 2009

I'm just a pile of plastic bags, move along.
posted by Sargas at 10:06 AM on March 5, 2009

Would it have been so hard to link to some ghillie suits? Or does everybody know what the heck they are and I just missed that day in school?
posted by rikschell at 10:07 AM on March 5, 2009 [5 favorites]

I'm not sure how that is urban camouflage, however, I get the concept and think if you were to adapt it to say Philadelphia by using used condoms, dirty needles and shitty diapers it could actually work.
posted by The Straightener at 10:09 AM on March 5, 2009 [7 favorites]

This is wonderful! And strange. And reminds me of why I keep coming back to Metafilter.
posted by agatha_magatha at 10:10 AM on March 5, 2009

Shambling mounds of copy paper? Plastic Bag men? Why is Metafilter broadcasting from my nightmares?
posted by The Whelk at 10:10 AM on March 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

i totally see horror b-movie.
posted by jonmc at 10:10 AM on March 5, 2009 [4 favorites]

My city does an annual "Haunted House," only they do it in a wilderness park, so it includes about a mile of "haunted woods." Mostly it's just teenagers in zombie makeup going "Boo." But my kids like it.

Me? I've always wanted to get a ghillie suit and just scare the holy living fuck out of teenagers.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:11 AM on March 5, 2009 [4 favorites]

That rules. Thanks for posting it!
posted by jquinby at 10:13 AM on March 5, 2009

I'm surprised they didn't just go with a Metal Gear cardboard box.
posted by meowzilla at 10:17 AM on March 5, 2009

Seems more like retail camo than urban camo.

Still weird and cool, though, particularly the paper suit.
posted by rtha at 10:20 AM on March 5, 2009

It seems all rather... specialized, though, unless you're fighting your way through Uncle Vince's Sham-Wow! Emporium.
posted by dunkadunc at 10:27 AM on March 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Well now I want a ghillie suit quite badly!
posted by Mister_A at 10:27 AM on March 5, 2009

See also: Japanese urban camo, and a whole lot more, though these ghillie-style suits are much more interesting.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:29 AM on March 5, 2009

I hope you are taking notes, Solid Snake.
posted by cortex at 10:30 AM on March 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

o hai meowzilla
posted by cortex at 10:31 AM on March 5, 2009

Kinda reminds me of my favorite awareness campaign for the homeless, courtesy of the Salvation Army in Canada.
posted by mannequito at 10:32 AM on March 5, 2009

... and more on Ghillie suits (the name was derived from ghillie, the Gaelic for "servant", in English especially used to refer to those assisting in deer hunting or fly fishing expeditions in the Scottish Highlands.)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:32 AM on March 5, 2009

I'm gonna print up a bunch of banners that say things like "Your favorite band sucks", "Facebook has totally jumped the shark" and "Would somebody explain Twitter to me? Why would I care what you had for breakfast", glue them to my shirt and wear them to the next Metafilter meetup to see if anybody notices me.
posted by bondcliff at 10:34 AM on March 5, 2009 [10 favorites]

Saw this linked elsewhere today, and was reminded of a project my roommate did for the Deitch Art Parade. He collected hundreds of plastic "bodega bags" and assembled a ghillie suit from them. [image]
posted by stachemaster at 10:34 AM on March 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Hilarious! I wish there were more.

Me? I've always wanted to get a ghillie suit and just scare the holy living fuck out of teenagers.

Back when we were still dating, my husband used to think it was hilarious to hide around corners and scare me. All. The. Time. I warned him I would get him back, but I don't think he believed me. Finally fed up with Mr. Geeky's antics, one day I talked my brother into putting on his ghillie suit and hiding by the driveway when Mr. Geeky was on his way over to visit. Mr. Geeky was walking down the driveway toward me, totally unsuspecting, when my brother popped out of the bushes and scared the living shit out of him. That was the day my husband learned that payback is a bitch :)
posted by geeky at 10:34 AM on March 5, 2009 [6 favorites]

Neat. It all reminds me of this little guy.
posted by JBennett at 10:34 AM on March 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Neat. It all reminds me of this little guy.

That's a Komondor, and they're far from "little." They were bred to sit out in the fields with the sheep in the snow for weeks on end and kick the shit out of wolves.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:39 AM on March 5, 2009 [4 favorites]

1. This is excellent.

2. Huh, all Ikeas look the same...
posted by JoanArkham at 10:42 AM on March 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. posted by Horace Rumpole at 1:47 PM on March 5 [+] [!]Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:47 AM on March 5, 2009 [7 favorites]

They were bred to sit out in the fields with the sheep in the snow for weeks on end and kick the shit out of wolves.

And to punch time clocks and eat their lunch out of a metal box.
posted by DU at 10:49 AM on March 5, 2009 [8 favorites]

There was a japanese gameshow that did this to great effect sometime in the late 90s (earlier?).

A guy would ghillie up (Did I just neologize?) as a neatly stacked pile of toilet paper rolls in public mens bathrooms, and jump out at unsuspecting salarymen. Hillarity would ensue as grown, serious would wet their suit-pants having screamed and moved away mid-stream.

I can't find the clip. Hive mind: hope-me! this needs to be seen again.
posted by lalochezia at 10:49 AM on March 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

That's a Komondor, and they're far from "little." They were bred to sit out in the fields with the sheep in the snow for weeks on end and kick the shit out of wolves.

Is it also the dog that scores pot for all the other dogs? (Daily Show video from 2001, fast-forward to 1:38).
posted by mhum at 10:54 AM on March 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

amazing! kinda reminds me of this stuffed animal suit i saw in a rave magazine in the early 90's (it wasn't like a giant bunny or something, rather a whole bunch of different stuffed animals sewn together in a huge wad)

i tried to find a picture of it on the google image search, but no luck. i did however (FWIW) find this entire blog dedicated to barbies disguised as radical faeries or something. complete with stories. enjoy! (?)
posted by sexyrobot at 10:56 AM on March 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Made me think of "Floory," from Pee Wee's Playhouse.
posted by Restless Day at 11:02 AM on March 5, 2009

Is it also the dog that scores pot for all the other dogs?

No, that one looked like either a Puli or a Portuguese Water Dog. Although, I'm sure that if asked, the Komondor would gladly hook you up with a Chinese Crested, although that guy is a bit of a crank tweaker.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:03 AM on March 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yes, that's right. Besides my other talents as a right-wing jackass, I know way too much about dog breeds.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:04 AM on March 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

...used to refer to those assisting in deer hunting or fly fishing expeditions in the Scottish Highlands

Like Golly of Glenbogle fame.
posted by ericb at 11:04 AM on March 5, 2009

These are not the Ikea bags you're looking for...

Awesome post, thanks.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 11:15 AM on March 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Made me think of Harry Tuttle in Brazil.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:24 AM on March 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Would it have been so hard to link to some ghillie suits?

Didn't even occur to me since I've known about them since I was much younger. I just copied the "about" page of the link for the text. Thanks for the suggestion for next time.
posted by educatedslacker at 11:26 AM on March 5, 2009

All kinds of awesomeness, educatedslacker (I like your username, too). Thanks!
posted by misha at 11:41 AM on March 5, 2009

Would it have been so hard to link to some ghillie suits?

Didn't even occur to me since I've known about them since I was much younger. I just copied the "about" page of the link for the text. Thanks for the suggestion for next time.

Don't worry, if you had linked to ghillie suits, someone would have complained about you link-padding. Not me though, I support the lazy wikipedia/google link in a post.

The pics in the fpp made me l-o-l quite hard. Thanks!
posted by Phantomx at 12:41 PM on March 5, 2009

So awesome. I've posted this up on the blog I write for.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:59 PM on March 5, 2009

Phantomx, the way you wrote it makes it seem like the pics in the front page made you "TIE fighter" quite hard. l-o-l
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:41 PM on March 5, 2009

I think the Ikea bag suit might also be useful to then gain residence in Ikea and live the good life: wearing bag suits by day, hanging out in the showcase rooms and eating meatballs by night.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 1:44 PM on March 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

"Hillarity would ensue as grown, serious would wet their suit-pants having screamed and moved away mid-stream."

Saw a show in Turkey where they'd be in an airport and they'd have a guy walk up to a tourist with a briefcase, drop it, and run.
...I don't think it's on anymore. I haven't been able to find it.

Only real urban cammo you need is a clipboard (with a work order) or a pizza delivery box. You can pretty much go anywhere unnoticed.
Downside to real ghillie suit is it smells like ass (plus your own piss if you're doing it right). I suppose smelling synthetic would be a bonus in an urban area tho.
posted by Smedleyman at 2:28 PM on March 5, 2009

Only real urban cammo you need is a clipboard (with a work order) or a pizza delivery box. You can pretty much go anywhere unnoticed.

Yes, I believe that I read that in Serial Killing for Dummies.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:19 PM on March 5, 2009

sexyrobot, I love you for finding this trainwreck. Wow.
posted by grippycat at 6:16 PM on March 5, 2009

I know a dude who had a ghillie suit for his job that decided to wear it to a Halloween party, which ended up getting quite out of hand. Eventually the police came to break it up, and arrest some of the slower youngsters. My friend was on the front lawn, saw them coming, and just dropped to the ground. The cops walked right past him (on either side), without seeing him, and went into the party to spread some dread. My friend stood up once they were gone, and calmly walked up the street to his car.
posted by popechunk at 9:37 PM on March 5, 2009 [3 favorites]