From Bogota to Knightsbridge: Bulletproof Fashion, Now at Harrods

What do you buy for the Russian oligarch who has everything? How about a bulletproof tuxedo shirt (pictured at left) or a suede jacket that’s resistant to mini Uzi fire? Body armor meets fashion in the world of Columbian designer Miguel Caballero, whose collection of bulletproof menswear debuted last month at Harrods, the famed London department store that is raking in the petrodollars (or petropounds, as it were). Caballero’s garments are available in three levels of protection, ranging from low (able to withstand, say, the shot of a .38 caliber pistol) to high (protecting against M5 submachine gun fire). In addition to its fashion lines, the company sells traditional body armor to military and security personnel.

Visitors are welcomed to Caballero’s “high security fashion” website with a techno beat, a glinting blue and silver coat of arms logo, and an ominous, Mr. Wizard-meets-The Sopranos motif of food coloring whorls dispersing in water. Under a tab called “V.I.P. Clients,” Caballero is pictured with a glowering Steven Seagal. According to the Telegraph, Caballero began making bespoke protective wear during Colombia’s civil war 15 years ago. His company now brings in approximately $9 million a year, and he’s not wasting the revenues on translators. His website describes his fashions and their target market thusly: “Sober, elegant, and exclusive, with specific hobbies always based in traditional designs. What these people desire is exclusivity on the clothes.” Finally, a designer who isn’t afraid to design for people with “specific hobbies”!

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