chaplin

Monday, February 28, 2011

Could you all stop buying these jackets?

This is a Barbour quilted jacket. I bought one before Christmas. It keeps the cold out in the morning but isn't so heavy that you swelter when going home on the Victoria Line. I'd seen smart Spanish-looking men wearing them. I saw Dave, the transport manager in our building, wearing one and he said he'd recommend them.

Hence I got one. Since then I've hardly worn anything else. Problem is I'm clearly not the only one. There are increasing numbers of them out there in the world. There are quite enough of them indoors as well. In a fashion wave which is unprecedented in our family, my son, his girlfriend and now one of my daughters have also bought them. Theirs are not identical but they're close enough that if we all go out together we look like a sponsored shooting party. Now the other daughter says she wants one too. Enough, I think.

6 comments:

  1. I could understand your protests if you were blazing a trail in the urban deployment of the quilted Barbour, but I'm afraid you're rather late to the party, David. These have been popular amongst non-country types for the last couple of years at least, the recent increase being due to coverage in the fashion pages, I presume. The early adopters were primarily teenagers, especially the football-following type, so expect your stop and search record to shoot up quite soon...

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  2. I'll second Smfifteen - someone wearing one of these attempted to mug me the other week..

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  3. In blue, green or less popularly a mid-brown, these were all the go amongst the horsey set in 1978-1981 and probably before and after for all I know. I don't know if they were Barbour made, but I expect they were. At the same time Harrington Jackets were the big news, elsewhere.

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  4. one of the unlikely stars of the recent upheavals in the middle east is Jeremy Bowen's Belstaff jacket, it's winning hands down against John Simpson's flappy white number.

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  5. Heck, at least it's not a black jacket with the brand name written on the right shoulderblade (North Face, Superdry).

    I got caught up in the rugby crowd on Saturday afternoon in Richmond and the prevalance of those jackets was remarkable.

    It's like Burberry a few years ago - suddenly ubiquitous.

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  6. I've been considering buying one for a few months (same logic as Mr H in terms of practical/smartish) but when we were in Paris a couple of weekends ago I did an audit while sitting having a coffee. Of 40 people who walked by over 50% were wearing some version of 'Le Quilte'. We are clearly all some form of sheep or manipulated by a decision Anna Wintour made 5 years ago. Or perhaps this is what is meant by street fashion.

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