Museum Notebook: Hunting, spying on or fighting an enemy ... you need this

Le canon de 280 camouflé by André-Charles Mare, c1917; a cubist ink and water colour painting of a camouflaged canon, designed for the French Army

From flecktarn to woodland to DPM, camouflage is everywhere ... if you can see it.

Camouflage is the perfect solution for being in a situation you don't want to be seen – hunting, spying on, or fighting an adversary. But camouflage as we know it is only a little over 100 years old.

Prior to that, many military units prided themselves on their crisp, clean uniforms and the psychological impact they had.

As well as helping to identify one side of a battle from the other, the uniformity of the clean and tidy uniform helped reinforce the uniformity of the troop, encouraging each soldier to feel part of a greater unit and work towards a common goal.

The bright colours (such as the iconic British redcoats) marching in tidy rows also helped the soldiers to feel battle-ready and as confident as the colours they wore.

Using muted colours as camouflage was first adopted in the military in the 18th century, when some light infantry and rifle units were fitted out in drab uniforms.

A 1916 steel helmet of the German Army, painted in a camouflage pattern with brown, green, and yellow paint.

The khaki tones allowed the soldiers to blend in more with their surroundings and stopped them being clearly seen from a distance, enabling them to carry out guerrilla tactics more stealthily. Before the production of khaki uniforms, British Indian soldiers would dye their white uniforms using tea leaves or curry powder to achieve a more muted tone.

Uniforms began to change considerably during World War I. With the advent of aerial reconnaissance and the increasing range and accuracy of weapons, it became apparent that bright colours were a disadvantage.

In 1915 after French soldiers were thoroughly defeated by Germany in a battle, they refused to wear their standard issue uniform red pantaloons and white gloves and demanded something less visible to help keep them from enemy sight.

The French army established their first unit of camofleurs – specialised soldiers and artists who designed and painted camouflage patterns. André-Charles Mare, a French painter and textile designer on active service at the time, lead this development.

He was influenced by cubism, juxtaposing bands of colour and overlapping with the colours of the landscape to blur the outlines of objects such as gun barrels.

A 19th-century uniform jacket from the 7th Wellington West Coast Regiment of the New Zealand Army, in bright English Redcoat red.

The camoufleurs were also influenced by Sir Edward Poulton's 1890 book The Colours of Animals, which discussed camouflage in the natural world. Inspired by the ideas in this book, the camoufleurs adopted the use of colours and patterns to further break up the outlines of an object or person.

Their work initially focused on artillery and equipment to help hide them from aerial observation, then moved on to uniforms to assist soldiers in combat.

The resulting pattern was a great success and was quickly adopted by military units on all sides of the field. Camouflage was proved useful again during World War II, with the subsequent increase in aerial reconnaissance and attack.

The patterns have become more customised over time with the adoption of different colours and patterns to blend into specific environments – snow, jungle, desert, and forest. Each country has developed their own style of patterns and colours to suit, including Canada's creation of a digital pixelated pattern in the 1990s.

Museum Notebook

Camouflage remains popular not just with the military, but in fashion and art as well. Some predict the chameleon fabric will be even more versatile in the future, with the development of camouflage that can change its own colour, shape and brightness.

•Sandi Black is the Archivist at Whanganui Regional Museum