"Ugliest and/or least functional uniforms of all time. " Topic

What uniform (in your opinion) is the least functional, most ridiculous and/or plain old ugliest in all of military history.

Ok, I will state (on the record) that the ACW Zouaves wore some very useless outfits in an extremely bloody, brutal and functional war (i.e. very efficient in killing soldiers). They seemed out of step with the new mechanisms of killing.

This has to be in the top 5.

link

Nudity. What a ridiculous way to fight. No functionality whatsoever and I bet most of the type were really really ugly.

ACUs regardless of camo pattern. You can't roll the freakin' sleeves on them!

Landsknechts. All kind of extra fabric to catch and snag, with not enough material where I'd want it.

Another vote for the Evzone. Yikes!!!

British Life Guards c 1825 – Full breast plate with Bearskin – While it looked good it was very top heavy. Wellington wore the uniform once and was so top heavy he was blown off his horse. the troops must have really loved it with all that polishing and a bearskin in English rains !!

BTW Greeks are very proud of their Evzones and feel as strongly about the troops as Scots do about the kilt and the Evzones have a terrific reputation as fierce fighters

The original highlander's uniform where a red coat and waistcoat was worn over a full belted plaid must have been extremely awkward

Later, cutting plaid into two pieces forming a bedroll and a kilt, made a workable uniform.

x42

I WAS going to post a 'ZARDOZ' image (for the BRUTALS 'uniform') like Sean Connery wore…but I thought I'd save on Brain Bleach and eye-gougers….

C'mon, you have to admit, it was a 'snappy-knappie!'

Blaaurgh!

Sgt DWW-btod

Winged Hussars (although they seem to have done pretty well in combat).

Hussars generally – a pretty silly way to wear a jacket.

French in 1914 – bright red trousers made for great targets and cuirasses made good noise when penetrated by high velocity bullets.

A 2nd for the Landsknecht. Certainly a nightmare to paint if not to wear.

Gotta join the groundswell of "support" for the Evzone uniform. The Evzones themselves are pretty cool and tough in combat.

How about that brief moment when the Central African Empire had a unit of Cuirassier on motorcycles?

And the Janissary headgear? Fierce fighters with funny hats?

I meant no offense to the proud Greeks. I was just offering my opinion on the uniform. After due consideration though I now realize Yanni was merely dressing to emulate the Evzones.

I have to vote for the Landsknechts – puffy sleeves, slashed doublets, goofy hats

At least the Evzones would keep cool!

There are, also, the Korean Honour Guards

link

Yeah Landsknechts are pretty bad too. Since this was a question of "looks", and not fighting reputation, – I still support my choice of the Evzone. A mini-skirt and tights??? Seriously?

You just plain can't say Evzones are ugly unless you someway share greek cultural heritage or understand it at least (I don't, don't like the uniform but it's just exotic for me, as are highlanders or Roger's Rangers for the case). You can find Napoleonic troops from Valencia wearing skirts and tights too. I would not say that was ugly as it is an adaptation of a traditional costume. Seriously.
Don't mess with Hussars! The pelisse worked as protection for the unarmed side when worn that way. Just as hanging bags or cords from shakos or mirlitons.
And the winged hussar was crack top! Beautiful and flexible armour, scaring noise-producing wings, pretty and functional helmets. They used long straight thrusting swords, sabres, lances… They were not only a joy to the sight but something to be very afraid of!
I ask you gentlemen and the occasional lady that you try to cast aside strict occidental points of view when referring to uniform ugliness.
For example, the sheer foolishness of variety of colours in the Neapolitan napoleonic army (Murat's) is celebrated with joy. I agree. But "seriously" it looks like Cabaret!
In all sincerity I concur with the above comment about ACU and I extend it to a lot of modern uniforms. They are plain ugly. I've seen camos that looked like an impressionist nightmare!
Least functional: I agree with another comment above about nudity. Just try to imagine slipping and falling on a bush… And surely ridiculous for a lot of cases!

Anything from Europe in the 1830's and 40's. No real combat since 1815. Uniforms become tighter and fancier when you don't have to fight in them.

I think you could put a pin in any uniform guide for the Napoleonic to Crimean periods and come out with a suitable candidate. Layers of wool, hundreds of yards of braid, coat-tails, tight breeches – I'd barely want to walk around in that under an Iberian sun, let alone fight to the death…

Talking about the Iberian sun there was warfare in Spain in the 1830s: the first Carlist war. Perry brothers make an excellent metal range of it, and you can see uniforms were not outrageous but in broad terms even looked smarter than napoleonics.
And germans didn't expect to fight under the iberian sun…
American Liberation wars also make for sometimes astounding uniforms.

British Tanker Uniform 1918. Chain mail over the face. heavy and thick in a hot engine room. No one liked it.