I love it. That's true dedication. I once read about Marc Bolan's obsession with Dinky Toys - then clothes - and the lengths he would go to in order to get what he craved.
Looking back, it wasn't only the lack of ready cash that held me back but the unyielding grip of my mother upon my shoulder. Didn't matter whether it was DC comic-books or tasselled loafers, she simply didn't want me to have them. Any kind of enjoyment was out of the question.
Grenfell doesn’t seem to have been mentioned, they’re the best currently available Harringtons I’ve seen and for the price the quality is excellent.
I think the rest of the world hardly pays any attention to what some yobs in the UK wear. The riff raff should not dictate anybody‘s choices.
That’s a very good point Hank, even in the UK if you mentioned the term ‘suedehead’ or ‘casuals’ to most people under 60 they would just look at you blankly.
The Harrington serves a purpose for me in UK spring and autumn conditions. I'm not bothered by any long gone associations with youth tribes, but I do ensure I don't do the all beige pensioner look.
Yes Hank does make a very valid point.
I’ve noticed the army green fishtail parka with fur trim hood is very much the preserve of school run mum. I’m sure nobody’s shouting ‘We are the mods’ at them from car windows.
In the UK we are getting further and further away from assumptions about a person or lumping them in with any scene/gang just because of the clothes they’re wearing that particular day.
The swim coat parka (no fishtail) seems to be the coat of choice for school run mums in Leigh on sea. I often wonder (in a pervy kind of way) what they have on underneath. My immediate neighbour usually has a swimsuit because she does an early morning swim.
Due to a warm spell I popped out this afternoon in a natural G9. Very ivy and a wonderful garment. How I learned to love the Harrington.
I like the idea of a swimsuit under a parka for ladies, it'll get me thinking when I next see a parka clad young lady !
A couple of years ago all the school run mummies were in gym bunny gear or running outfits. They seem to spend their spare time training and keeping in shape.
I will take the opportunity to wear a Harrington as soon as the weather improves wherever I am. Reclaim the Harrington!
I would rather see your neighbour wearing her swimsuit under a Harrington.
HaHa! She is a looker.
I see they have a dedicated Harrington thread over on DressedWell. Not bad. Someone was arguing - pretty plausibly - that darker colours are best.
My dark navy gets worn loads. Seems to go with (almost) everything.
The blue/yellow check is a lot less versatile, but still a pleasure to pull out on the odd cool Spring morning
Stopped wearing them years ago due to the MODS! MODS! MODS! association.
There is a place for a lightweight jacket like a harrington though, so might dig out an old London Fog harrington when the weather picks up.
Used to have a lovely izod lacoste harrington with nice madras lining (I always see the stewart (?) tartan of Baracuta and the knock-off generic tartan harringtons everywhere, so nice to avoid).
What happened to Izod? I picked up a couple of shirts not long ago as they seemed ok for ‘day to day’, and I had the name linked to Lacoste somewhere in my memory.
Since then I’ve noticed a load of cheap Izod branded stuff in TKMaxx etc. Strikes me it’s a name that’s been brought to add to a larger portfolio to wring out the last of it?
I might be wrong
@Spendthrift, Lacoste partnered with Izod so they could promote the brand in the US, when I first discovered Harrington in Guildford, the Polo's they sold were Chemise Lacoste, but the Bell sleeve cardigans were Izod Lacoste, a friend of the shop worked on BA, and used to bring them back from trips to NY.
Who sang that song, 'The More I See You, The More I Want You'? Chris Montez, was it? It was probably about some lonely guy, on a Sunday afternoon, gazing through the window at a closed, quiet 2 Russell Street, at a pair of cordovan beauties basking in the sunlight.
For me, with the Harrington, it's 'The More I See You, The More I Loathe You'. A timely reminder has cropped up Elsewhere, noted by a former 'Talk Ivy' poster (who, I suspect, has not worn the G9 in many a long year).
But, if only Johnny Simons had had a quid or three paid into his pension-pot each time someone tried flogging one of these beastly garments, I'd be well satisfied.
I don't think, the way I feel now, even if the 'Great Lost Gant' in olive showed up again I'd bite.
Not unless some free parquet flooring came with it.
The irony - John Simons, the man who first called the G9/Barracuta a 'Harrington' has always hated them. I recall being literally speechless when, at the height of my ultra-orthodox Ivy obsession in the 80s he told me he thought they were "vulgar". This after he'd flogged me a few pricey versions, including the mythical olive Gant. I thought I might just burst out crying...
The irony indeed. One has to smile and shake the head. At least one poster on here, though, going back a number of years, said he couldn't see anything remotely 'Ivy' about them, which caused me to raise an eyebrow (as an alternative, you see, to shaking the head: variety, after all, is the spice of life).
I suppose, notwithstanding, they became a 'staple'. The contemporary Baracuta reached the City Of Derby in around 2008. A 'high end' retailer (who I've known since the 70s) began stocking them. 'We call these the G9', he confided in me. 'You don't say so?' Red Wings were also featured - this in a place where men are men, women are grateful and chickens grow nervous after sundown.
The shop closed shortly afterwards and Martin went into a different line of business.
Of course he knew all the old bollocks about Sinatra, McQueen, Elvis etc. etc.
There's a photograph of James Dean over on DW (I sneaked another peek). But isn't the jury still out on whether or not that was a kosher Harrington? I thought (many moons ago) that it might have been a McGregor Anti-Freeze. I had one (which once drew favourable comments, although from some 'Mod revivalist' type, not a nymphomaniac), but not for long. Rather nasty artificial fibre item. But some think the alternative Jimbo had something knocked up for him for that dreadful film (which I'm old enough to have seen on the big screen, albeit not the first time around). Perhaps, had he lived, he might have become a Republican governor or done a guest spot in 'Dallas'.
The DW thread is actually quite amusing over a late-night mug of cocoa and a ginger biscuit.
Someone is actually talking the 'arry UP, though, which comes as no surprise.
Possibly, when I claim by bus-pass, I'll invest in one of the stone/beige Gant I sometimes see.
Then again...
Sammy Ambrose has something of value to say on this subject. I find myself, for once, in complete agreement with him. Transport your G9 from sarf Landon to, say, Rhode Island or The Village, you might be dealing with a very different creature indeed: back to the original, golfing look perhaps (if that's your bag). But that unzipped, aggressive, lager-swilling, belching, farting, football lout look is what turned me off to begin with - and on, for a while, to Peters, Derby, Catalina, McGregor, the London Fog G4 etc.