Baracuta G9 Harrington jacket marks 85 years with limited-edition book

 In partnership with Baracuta 

The Baracuta G9 Harrington, beloved of American movie stars, European modernists and international stylists for decades, was born in rainy Manchester, England, back in 1938.   

Now, some 85 years after its creation, following the Harrington’s ever-evolving, cross-generational anointment as a bonafide design classic and a hardy emblem of Britishness, the Baracuta brand has looked back to its Manchester roots for inspiration. 

Produced by Wallpaper*, this film made in collaboration with filmmaker Timothy Lees with photography shot by Lucy Sparks celebrates the G9 Jacket as a British design icon

On a mission to discover what the G9 originally represented for the people of Manchester and what it stands for in 2023, Baracuta’s project is a visual narration involving 13 people – diverse British faces from different walks of life and of varied ages, each recalling their emotional connections with the Harrington jacket. These stories are gathered in a special volume dedicated to this apparel icon along with never-before-seen archival imagery and documents.

In the years since Baracuta’s first G9 Harrington was crafted, myriad subcultures, cults and youth movements have taken the jacket and made it their own. In the UK, it was adopted by Mods and punks, skinheads and ska fans. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Harrington has long been embraced by Hollywood stars, US Ivy Leaguers and sporting heroes alike – from James Dean, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman to John F Kennedy and Muhammad Ali – who helped turn the jacket into an evergreen preppy essential.

Originally designed for Manchester’s golfing community by Baracuta founders John and Isaac Miller, the jacket’s construction was modelled around the arc of the swing, the pockets slanted with a single button closure to comfortably hold two golf balls. The name of the jacket pays further tribute to the sport, the ‘G’ standing for ‘golf’ and the ‘9’ representing the number of holes on an executive course. 

The brothers’ original design and detail choices – including the now-iconic umbrella back yoke, the dog-ear collar and the famous Fraser tartan lining – would help make the great British jacket a global success.

A significant ambassador was actor Ryan O’Neal who played the role of Rodney Harrington in American soap opera Peyton Place, which ran between 1964 and 1969. The character was seen wearing a Baracuta G9, which reflected his preppy, Ivy League stylings. Rodney Harrington became so associated with his G9 that London store John Simons began selling the G9 under the name of the ‘Harrington jacket’. To this day, Baracuta’s design is still known as the ‘One and Only Original Harrington Jacket’.

It wasn’t just Rodney Harrington who wore the jacket on screen. Elvis wore a G9 in King Creole, Frank Sinatra wore one in Assault on a Queen, and Steve McQueen donned a navy jacket in The Thomas Crown Affair. When Donald Campbell broke the land-speed record in 1964 driving his Bluebird-Proteus CN7 at up to 440mph at Lake Eyre, Australia, he wore a G9.

Closer to Baracuta’s Manchester home, the G9 was going on another subcultural journey. Bands and musicians like The Clash, Sid Vicious, Paul Weller and Eric Clapton all sported their own G9s during the 1960s and 1970s, with subsequent eras of artists all also choosing the jacket. As the battle of Britpop raged in the 1990s, both Liam Gallagher and Damon Albarn, the two frontmen on either side of UK’s most famous pop feud, both wore G9s. The Libertines’ Pete Doherty was a Harrington boy also. 

Pop culture has developed, evolved and transformed during the last eight and a half decades, but the G9 has remained constant. The design has never changed, nor have the values associated with it. To this day, the G9 Harrington jacket made in the historic Baracuta Cloth fabric is still manufactured in the UK, with the same focus on high-quality materials and craftsmanship that it had back in 1938.

The limited edition Baracuta volume includes contributions from key Manchester figures: Chef Joseph Otway, DJ Andy Votel, Post punk band A Certain Ratio Ben, Hacienda architect Ben Kelly, vintage expert Ladi Kazeem, artist Stanley Chow, DJ and promoter Anton Stephens, Piccadilly Records’ Laura Kennedy, singer Victoria Jane, artist Luke Passey, Royal Ragz retail founder Charlie Ballet, journalist Matty White, Baracuta seamstress Beryl.

Available to buy from baracuta.com