Any Baracuta/G9/Harrington fans?

[ChuckO]

Are there any Baracuta/G9/Harrington fans around here? I bought one off of their website last year. The cost is crazy! I love the jacket but 120 pounds? Even I think I'm crazy for paying that.

It's amazing that you could find decent knockoffs anywhere mens casual wear was sold through the 80's and then wham! they disappeared.

I'm hoping they're coming back. The real one I bought I bought was red (big James Dean fan) but I'd really love a good knockoff in black.

 

[Marty M.]

Love those G9's.

Hi Chucko, I love the classic G9. Our dollar is taking a beating now. So the imports are even more expensive. I would love to carry them at my shop. Truely a classic.
Marty Mathis

 

[ChuckO]

What kind of shop is it?

You can't sell a $200 windbreaker right? Even the Polo windbreaker that's sort of in the ball park is only $120 or so.

 

[Marty M.]

Red's great.

Oh sorry ChuckO. We have a small Men's Haberdashery in Minneapolis. And sure, I can sell a $200.00 plus wind breaker. I just haven't been able to nail down whose importing them to the U.S so we retailers can buy them for our shops.
Marty Mathis

 

[Salv]

They're great jackets - I started a thread a while ago comparing them to the equally classic, but much cheaper, McGregor Drizzler. Have a look here.

 

[Cobblers]

Hi Gents,

I've been lurking on the forum for a while and this is my first post so 'Hi all...'

G9's I love them, Being an old/ex mod I guess it's essential. Nice cut, very smart and the rear vent is a lovely touch.

They're a bit steep in price but far superior to any other Harringtons. I know Oi Polloi in the Uk has a sale on right now with a few reduced to about £80. Failing that J. Simons in Covent Garden, Londons finest gentlemans retailers, always has them in and there's a sale coming up!

 

[ChuckO]

Mods love them! I always see interviews with Paul Weller where he talks about them. Here in the US it seems like it got popular from Sinatra and then built up from there (Elvis,McQueen,Ryan O'Neal)

My Dad bought me my first real one when I was fifteen (early 80's) so they couldn't have been as expensive then.

Has anyone had the Merc version. I just found that at a website for $80(US). It looked OK.

 

[Cobblers]

Ha Ha! I saw your location and thought you were in Hertford north of London!

Merc ones are ok for fixing the scooter in but they lack the rear vent which is a true sign of a repro Baracuta....

Best to look in the sales although they are often found second hand on ebay from US sellers and go dirt cheap. Best of luck with your quest...

 

[Salv]

Hi Cobblers, and welcome to the Lounge. Nice to see another J. Simons fan here.

 

[ChuckO]

Are you an original 60's Mod or a 80's revival Mod?

Yea the Mercs look kind of rough around the edges. The thing that bothers me most is the tartans pretty funky.

 

[Edward]

The 70s / 80s style ones that are poly/cotton mix and have the two-button collars are widely available on eBay new for about USD30... I see them worn by a lot of the rockabilly kids here in London - usually in black, though you'll find them in red, burgundy, tan, navy, sky blue, green.... I bouht a red one last May (partly the Dean influence), and I'm very pleased with it. Great light jacket for over a tishirt or shirt on those cooler evenings in May through September.

 

[Salv]

It's not a bad Dean look-alike, but Dean's jacket in Rebel was a shiny nylon McGregor Antifreeze. They never seem to turn up now in any colour. I still prefer my Drizzler though as a spring jacket.

 

[Cobblers]

Hey Salv, yeh, J. Simons is an excellent spot even though John shouts at his staff. Used to get my Weejuns from there, I love his passion for sourcing clothes. Have you seen those Playboy shoes? Wow!

ChuckO, I may be grey as a badger but I'm not old enough to be a 60's mod, I got into it all in the 80's. Can't seem to fit the 60's slim cut anymore so I've drifted into 50's and 40's. Progression in regressing I guess. Still got my trusty 68 Vespa though!

 

[Fletch]

It's amazing that you could find decent knockoffs anywhere mens casual wear was sold through the 80's and then wham! they disappeared.

Is it all that amazing?
1. Consider fashion. The 80s was (among other things) the heyday of the windbreaker. Since then they've been fighting their way back from the land of the golfing dork.
2. Sometimes people take action when their product is being copied. Especially when it's not just being sold out of cardboard boxed on a sidewalk in New York, but in respectable department stores.

 

[Salv]

Hey Salv, yeh, J. Simons is an excellent spot even though John shouts at his staff. Used to get my Weejuns from there, I love his passion for sourcing clothes. Have you seen those Playboy shoes? Wow!

...

Are those the crepe soled shoes? I've got a pair of those in black, and yes, they're lovely shoes although the crepe gets cut and wears quite quickly. I don't wear them as much as I thought I would.

I was in there once with my daughter, who was just a toddler at the time and was wearing an old leather jacket that was mine when I was that age, and John told me that he had found a warehouse full of vintage kids clothes while on a US buying trip. He knew he'd never be able to sell it all so he left it, but he said there was some fantastic stuff there.

 

[ChuckO]

Fletch,
Your probably right that it isn't that amazing. They were probably such a huge trend in the 80's that people were sick of them. I tend to like very few things and stick with them. I'm still a bit suprised they went away so completely for 15 years (at least here in the US). I don't think there are any legal issues to producing knockoff 'cutas.

Edward,
England seems so amazing from here in America. Punks, teds, mods, rockers! Just looks like a blast for clothes horses.

 

[Edward]

For what is, I guess, a relatively small country, the English sure have produced a very rich variety of clothing and subculture tribes, you definitely have to grant them that. Any nation that gave the world the cravat and such exquisite tailoring can't be all ad, eh?

Salv... they're not an accurate Dean looky-likey, no - more 'in the style of' than anything. Still, at that price....! The Dean jacket has always intrigued me - I'd love to see an accurate repro just to see what it was like. I've long been intrigued that they avoided the obvious leather mc as a mark of a young rebel (not least as really right into the late 70s the basic Brando style jacket still maintained the power to offend; in small ton Ireland my folks weren't entirely thrilled when I got into them from the late 80s). Was it in part an attempt to avoid the character from looking too much like Brando's Johnny in The Wild One, do you think? It's a very strong image, the red, though - I like it a lot.

 

[ChuckO]

Edward,
I've seen film criticism books that called the jacket the "red danger" jacket because whenever he appears on screen in it there's well, danger.

Another Irishman?! I'm an O'Rourke myself.

 

[Edward]

Edward,
I've seen film criticism books that called the jacket the "red danger" jacket because whenever he appears on screen in it there's well, danger.

Another Irishman?! I'm an O'Rourke myself.

I'm a first generation North of Ireland immigrant to old London.

The 'danger' motif definitely makes sense - it's certainly very striking. I guess too 'glorious technicolour' was still a fairly new thing back then - why would they have stuck to old fashioned black when a vibrant red on screen was now an option...

 

[ChuckO]

Yea it's a psychological cue that troubles afoot. Also he's wearing jeans and engineer(biker) boots so that and not wearing a leather like the thugs (Buzz's gang) in the movie shows he's got one foot in both worlds and struggling to stay "good".

It's seems like a common misconception that that jacket's a 'cuta maybe because Elvis wore one in his first or second movie.