I would never wear a Barbour - full stop; or any other waxed jacket. No more than I would wear green wellies. Admittedly in the UK Barbour has passed its peak for wannabees.
You could justify a reflective coat or donkey jacket for low maintenance weather protection but they never feature outside the workplace.
I would wear other posh kit that passes the decent clobber test. Obviously ties with pheasants or gun dogs on them are as a big a no no as a Barbour.
My Ivy or Trad is really American. It draws on the entertainment industry before East coast Brahmins.
The Barbour International is a brilliant jacket: rain-resistant, warm when you want it to be, stylish and something that gets better with age. I wouldn't be without one. I can understand the antipathy surrounding Bedales, Beauforts and so on: the Sloane associations are maybe too powerful for many here in the UK to ever overcome, but characterising all waxed cotton jackets as the Devil strikes me as counter-productive.
I think quality rainwear is something that Britain always did better than the US. An old Aquascutum or Burberrys will always be on a different planet, quality-wise, to the US produced variants, which only really had cache over here by virtue of being American. The Gloverall duffel is also something that springs to mind in this sphere.
Last edited by Natural Sole Brother (2010-03-25 10:49:40)
I bought the Barbour Utility in black a couple of years ago and its an excellent waxed jacket, in that it doesn't look like Barbour. Its certainly not real Ivy. And the ubiquitous green coloured Barbours are not where its at in way shape or form. Still, it serves its purpose.
Although my mission is authentic Ivy, I have just purchased the green vintage rain coat by Hepworths from Denise at Vintagewhistles. It should arrive tomorrow. Figure this is permissable and part of the curriculum, or am I just another Quadrophenia Ace Face Mod fantasist?
In answer to the question, its American slightly seared by English sensibilities or lapses. Then I put on 'Trane and those sheets of sound remind me to get rid of everything that's not 100% Ivy authentic.
I don't care much about provenance, as long as it goes with the style. English - whatever fits into the aesthetic (from England it happens to be strictly knitwear, overcoats and shoes). All the Playboys are English. I bought the Buffercoat because I loved the look, I didn't even know it was considered "Ivy" back then.
I have never bought a Barbour and although I don't live there, I'm still struck by how my taste coincides with what is considered "Ivy" in the UK by the people who care for it. This focus on being "American" in style however doesn't bother me much over here in the Lowlands. What does occupy me is still that old quest to find that look, wherever whenever. That said, the good US stuff does stand out though.
I wear a Barbour Bedale in sage green. I don't get the class ideas behind them - that all seems silly now. Not ivy, of course...but they needn't stick with connotations of funny old farmers or sloane types(they don't even exist now!). In fact, I think they can have a certain 'cool' about them when worn in that way that italians wear functional or sporty clothes...y'know, going sockless in your Weejuns or boatshoes and wearing wayfarers or something...
Andover, as ever, is a good call. There was always a sophistication there, no?
Can I also say that Paul Stuart aped them in that, but that Andover were there first?
Always good to jaw, Old Spot -
^ Neat point. Restraint. So far, but no further. Not a bad definition of good taste, eh?
The Barbour International dates from the 1930s. It was actually designed for crew on William Randolph Hurst's yacht and was then taken up by British submariners as non-issued kit. The angled pocket on the left was designed for a pistol.
Its adoption as a motorcycle jacket came later but its roots are essentially nautical.
A fun game to play would be "Not Ivy In England!!!" -
I'll start:
The Lock Hat.
The Peal Shoes.
100% Brooksian. Yet too English to be Ivy in England?
Last edited by Hard Bop Hank (2010-03-30 04:04:21)
Food for thought.
I'd go knit tie & fly-fronted Mack these days.
I used to wear a Trench, inspired by Dexter Gordon... I wouldn't now. Mr. Lockerloop has also written about his feelings re: The Trench: Ivy to John Simons & Ian Strachan, et al, but not to him. And I'd side with him these days too.
Yet the Trench is, again, very Brooksian & deeply Ivy in the US - Especially the Burberry.
The knit tie is a funny one - It's English, yet I never see it that way.
????
I'm a bit post-Repps these days, although, Lord knows, I've got more than a few of them in the wardrobe. They're too easily misunderstood over here I think.
Rather like the Blazer...
Oh - But the Brooks Repp stripes are always OK - Because they are non-Regimental & non-School. They are nothing but Brooks.
Ivy, innit?