Burberry, Mulberry, Aquascutum – all luxury British brands

that haven’t always been in fashion favour yet now have a place

amongst the most coveted high-end fashion labels on the planet.

Something similar has been happening to another brand that’s as

British as bulldogs and wet weather.

What’s so intriguing about this particular label’s ascension into the upper echelons of cool

is that they’ve pulled it off without even trying.

Almost without even knowing.

No relaunch, rebrand or restructure.

Barbour didn’t spot one of its wax jackets on a super-cool young thing

in Dalstonand think let’s jump on this immediately and hire an Italian designer

to sex up the collection and thrust hundreds of freebies at more super-cool

young things (but this time from Celebrity Land) and see where this goes.

Instead it has been quietly getting on with streamlining its silhouettes

and ramping up its technical credentials to produce a range of closer fitting

and better looking coats and jackets for a new generation who want

proper fashionwith function. And that all important ‘heritage’.

(Marketing men take note: THAT you cannot buy.)

Now there may be a newer breed of Barbour clothing on the scene

but it’s still the original styles that pack the biggest style punch.

And according to Vogue’s Emma Elwick – the older the better.

She wore a particularly voluminous exemplar over a sequined vest and

hot pants when she was DJ-ing at Glastonbury.

And we think that’s the key to Barbour’s re-newed popularity.

They’re a badge of honour and show that you’re into your music

and rough it at festivals up and down the country while still looking chic.

A Barbour jacket is the ideal partner in crime to Hunter wellies.

Festivals are no longer only for kids and hippies, they’re a veritable fashion parade

for the biggest players in the industry. No longer all about the music,

the UK festivals in particular have got more to do with whose wearing what

as opposed to whose playing after whom. And the who’s who of the fashion world just love

getting down and dirty in their Barbour jackets.

“It probably started off among young boys, who are also working flat caps

with their skinny jeans and un-named plimsoles. It’s the Hackney Farmers uniform,”

says Elwick, “but girls are getting in on it too, although the wax means the jackets

become a bit smelly to be too mainstream.”

Not a problem as the new Barbour ranges have a lot more going for them than the

old-school wax pieces. Alexa Chung, Lily Allen, Kelly Osborne and Geldofs Peaches and Pixie

have all been seen wearing a host of Barbour jackets over pretty party dresses.

Other glamorous fans of the country-chic look include Gela Nash-Taylor, co-creative

director of Juicy Couture who divides her time between homes in LA

and a stunning Elizabethan manor house in Wiltshire.

“The dressing up at Wraxall is part of my fantasy life. I dress extra English

when I’m here. At night, I love to wear something long. For a walk outside in the winter,

I wear a pair of Gucci stretch pants, a ruffled pale-yellow cashmere sweater,

a Barbour, and a piece of fur. I even wear Wellies now. I love Wellies—

the real ones: green Hunters. I didn’t ‘get’ them before,

so I tried to spray paint them and make them more edgy, more fashion,

but now I know they should just be green.”

While we’re on the subject of Juicy Couture I couldn’t resist sneaking in a

picture of the gorgeous baby Fluffy bag.

How cute?

We at Jules B hold Barbour very close to our Northern hearts.

We were selling Barbour when the only people wearing them were

genuine hunts-folk. Why? Because they’re authentic, beautifully made

and part of the history of this little corner of the world. A trip to the Barbour factory

in South Shields (and the brilliant outlet store) is a rite of passage

for anyone from the North East. The fact that Barbour is hot now is merely a bonus.

Far superior to Belstaff the Italian outerwear brand

and what’s more patriotic in these uncertain times than flying the flag for a

distinctly British brand? To read more about the history of Barbour and more

entertaining rural rhetoric go their official site.

A new flagship store on the (also recently resurrected) Carnaby Street in London

plus appearing on the rails at Dover Street Market equals you’reofficially going places.

If more proof were needed, an official stamp of approval from Lisa Armstrong

Fashion Editor at The Times surely seals the deal.

After attending a brain-storming dinner with various other editors,

buyers and industry players to discuss the future of ‘heritage’ fashion brands,

Armstrong waxed lyrical about Barbour in particular.

“The Barbour revival is a triumph of street style over marketing,

substance over flash, customisation over mass logos.

It couldn’t be more comforting in a recession

— perhaps that’s why it took many of us at that dinner back to the glory days

of what was happening in British fashion in the early 80s.

A little bit ugly, quite whiffy, 100 per cent British.

Let’s hope it doesn’t change.”

Here here.