The Rise of The Barbour

Alexa Chung

If you keep one eye on the fashion press you will have noticed that the Barbour has become a sartorial thumbs up for the last couple of years. First pictured at the festivals with Alexa Chung’s stick thin, booted legs poking out and more recently all over London. My own Barbour - bought 10 years ago secondhand by my mother for me to use in the 'outdoor work' sports option at school (yes, building barns was considered a sport) - is mud splattered and stiff to a crisp from all the years of wear and tear, yet it is still being routinely taken on dog walks, dragged around festivals and often used as a rug on less than sunny picnics. So, the sight of it wandering around the cream floors of Harvey Nichols is frankly bizarre. But this is the Barbour not as we (countryfolk) know it – this is the city Barbour. It’s wax is gleaming, it is so soft that it drapes over the body and it is slightly smug at its new position as the nonchalant drapery of the fashionista. The city Barbour prefers to be paired with stripy Breton tops, the latest ‘it’ bag and towering heels rather than Hunter wellies and jeans.

Anya Hindmarch for Barbour, £375 (waiting list applies)

Olivia Palermo

I admit it looks fabulous - there is something perfect about the way it acts as a welcome foil to somewhat more glamorous fashion pieces (take New Yorker Olivia Palermo sporting hers, belted, with a Chloé bag and heels). And of course, according to Vogue, the country look is very ‘in’ this season ('when was it ever ‘out’?' I whisper indignantly). If one needed further assurance of the wax jacket’s stardom, the grande dame of accessories, Anya Hindmarch, has collaborated with the brand producing four to-die-for limited edition jackets and coats (my preference is for the glamour puss jacket above). So, the rise of the Barbour from country girl staple to international jet setter is almost complete - it has reasserted itself in it’s homeland, has trotted along the sidewalks of New York and according to an Athenian friend, the Barbour is all the rage amongst the hippest students in Athens – the humble Barbour styled against the ancient ruins of the Acropolis, now that's something I'd like to see.