Your Stylist: Fall’s military pieces straight from the source

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Field trip! This week’s installment of Your Stylist takes us to The Surplus Store on Venice Boulevard where I found that while the military look is a strong trend this season, items such as tough lace-up boots, canvas camouflage bags and vintage army jackets work anytime.

It’s no secret that the military trend is marching straight on through to fall. Your favorite mall stores and fast-fashion chains are all making army jackets, anoraks and ponchos in shades of army green, khaki and brown. Skinny cargo pants are still stuck to every other girl in town, trench coats are looking more structured, and the season’s hottest boots have rough and rugged details. While all of the offerings from designers both high and low seem fine, I wondered what my local Army Navy Surplus store had to offer that would fit the military trend as well as a tight budget.

The Surplus store on Venice Boulevard has a massive stock of gear both new and vintage and from the armed forces of various countries including the U.S., France and Germany. I found a used button-down vest that was perfectly soft and worn in. Wrap a brown leather belt around it to cinch in the size and add more style to the piece. There was also a German medic bag with brown leather straps. The square shape and long shoulder strap make it a good accent piece to fall’s earthy color palette and an easy accessory to throw across the body. And some olive green and black lace-up boots come in a wide range of sizes starting at a boy’s 3 (a lady’s 5), and would look great over skinny jeans, black knit leggings or even with some cutoffs and a T-shirt for that Erin Wasson-Alexander Wang tomboy chic spin.

Not only are these items priced lower than the contemporary labels doing the trend this season, combing the Army Navy store for these military pieces can be fun and well worth the hunt.

The Surplus Store is at 10341 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 841-0289.

-- Melissa Magsaysay

Photo, from top: Vest, $14.50; green and black lace-up boots, $25.95; camouflage bag, $11.95; scarf $9.95. Credit: Melissa Magsaysay