WP CELBRATES THE ROCK HERITAGE OF BARACUTA'S G9 HARRINGTON JACKET

Who doesn't know or has never in his or her life seen Baracuta's G9 jacket? That oh-so-iconic garment, known around the world as the Harrington Jacket, that has become the epitome of immortal legends and subcultures, capable of bringing together characters such as Elvis, James Dean, and Damon Albarn through to the style of 1950s American colleges. From the elegance of JFK to the bad boys of Hollywood, crossing British Mods, punks and skinheads: the G9 Harrington Jacket has been the uniform of elegance, rebellion, affiliation, style and freedom while always sticking true to itself. Baracuta's heritage will be celebrated by Wp Lavori In Corso through the WP Stories project, a collection of interviews shot inside the Italian company's amazing archive, marking the 40th anniversary of its founding. On this event, guiding us inside the WP Lavori in Corso archives is designer there will be the designer and consultant Gary Aspden and Daiki Suzuki, founder of Engineered Garment and creative director of Baracuta. Together, the two will explore the long history of the brand, which, in 2012 was added to WP Lavori in Corso's brand portfolio, sparking a friendship and connection between the two that stays strong through the years.

Although it has dressed the shoulders of rock stars and ground breakers of all sorts over time, Baracuta's G9 Harrington Jacket has its roots in the English culture and especially the golf culture. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the city of Manchester in England was increasingly establishing itself as one of the great hubs of the English textile industry. It was in this very field that Baracuta - by the brothers John and Isaac Miller - operated, specializing in waterproof materials. The Miller brothers' insight, which would later lead to the birth of the G9 model, began precisely from their passion for golf. The sport was proving particularly difficult to play in Manchester's rainy weather. A garment, a jacket perhaps, was needed so that it could protect against water without restricting the athlete's movements. The two brothers therefore created a garment that allowed mobility to the torso and arms for swinging. They used a special cloth for the outside of the jacket, while the fine red and green Fraser Tartan was used for the inside. Coming directly from the Lovat clan of Scotland, its use for the G9 Harrington Jacket was authorized by Lord Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser himself, who wore the jacket during World War II, while he was in charge of the British Commandos, and thus introduced the garment to military wear as well. The jacket also spread among middle-class British workers as a stylish alternative to overalls. The G9's success grew even more in the 1950s, when Baracuta arrived in the United States, where it immediately made Ivy League youth fall in love with it. But the garment's success exploded when the jacket appeared on Rodney Harrington, a well-known character on the soap Peyton Place, making it famous by the name Harrington Jacket. Notably, it was John Simons, the owner of The Ivy Shop, who put a Baracuta G9 in his store front window with the inscription "The Rodney Harrington jacket," thus permanently establishing it as a style icon for a huge number of British sub-cultures, from the Mods of the 1960s to the Rude Boys to punks to skinheads and beyond. Meanwhile, the brand has continued to grow and expand its production far beyond its jackets. These are still made in England today: pieces of the highest quality that are the result of the greatest dedication to make a garment - an icon indeed - that can last a long time, and be passed down from generation to generation. During so many years in business, having an impressive tradition and heritage behind it, Baracuta's archive has taken on incalculable value, going on to include all sorts of patterns, variations and historical finds. It is through these pieces that Gary Aspden and Daiki Suzuki will guide us for an exclusive tour which will be soon can appreciated in the fifth episode of Wp Stories.