The Jacket I Reach for Five Days Out of the Week

4 min read

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If you’re at all interested in the history of men’s style, you don’t need an introduction the Baracuta G9. If you’re a bit newer to the game or can’t rattle off the list of men who have made the Baracuta G9 their own—no worries, it’s a loooong list—let me give you a quick primer.

First produced in Manchester in 1938 as a rain jacket for golfers—‘G’ means golf, ‘9’ means the first nine holes—the jacket features practical touches like a water-resistant cloth, an umbrella back yoke, and flapped pockets. But to make the jacket stand out, and perhaps give it some on-links bona fides, Baracuta’s founders, the Miller brothers, reached out to Scottich Lord Lovat, clan chief of Clan Fraser to use its family tartan on the lining. Permission was given, and the jacket has since lived through almost 90 years of reinventions by Hollywood stars (Steve McQueen), jazz masters (Miles Davis), preps, punks, mods, and modern menswear cool guys.

To me, this is all the coolest shit imaginable, exactly what makes a garment worth buying. The story can stop here. But you, ostensibly a young person or menswear-curious buyer, might need a little more convince. So, here goes.

That Pop of Tartan Never Gets Tired

I love when a garment has a calling card. Not a gimmick, but something that if you see another one in the wild, you instantly recognize it. On a RRL jacket I own, it’s a cowboy boot toe medallion stitch that has led to me becoming friends with guys who notice it. On a Baracuta G9, it’s that Clan Fraser tartan. Since it lines the whole interior, all the way to the zips, it’s almost always visible. When wearing it open, it’s clearly visible. When the jacket is zipped, it provides a little pop. It adds a little something to every outfit. And it’s a Bat-Signal to every other man of good taste out in the world. Unlike some of my other beloved British jacket makers who stick a label on the left arm, Baracuta’s tartan is more subdued. It makes the affair a bit more classy.

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It’s Practical, Endlessly Wearable

This is never my first go-to for a piece of clothing. I prefer to talk about looks. But a huge reason I love my G9 is that it’s probably the most practical thing in my closet. On a drizzly day, and sometimes when it’s pouring, it’s my rain jacket. On a windy day, it’s my windbreaker. In the spring, it stands alone; in the winter, it’s layered on top of sweaters. On particularly frigid days, it becomes an insulating layer beneath a heavy jacket. In the summer, I keep it around for cooler nights. If I’m working in the yard, on the golf course, or warming up for a weekend soccer league, it’s my jacket of choice. And just about anytime I travel it’s the first thing that goes in the bag, because no matter what comes up, I’ll find a reason to wear it.

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It’s Survived (and Will Survive) a Lifetime of Re-Interpretations

The last thing I like to point to when talking about old-school styles is the number of groups and cool guys that have adopted it. The G9 has a list longer than most, which I alluded to. Before the 1950s, it was a British sport jacket, but after it was adopted by Hollywood—famously Steve McQueen, who wore a G9 on- and off-screen. It had that cool-guy Post-War working-class thing boom thing going for it: good for working on or riding your motorcycle. Then, the stateside preps took to wearing it. Then Miles Davis and Chet Baker secured its status as an icon of the New York jazz look. Oh, and back across the pond at home it was part of the mod uniform. See that cool guy on two wheels thing again? The skinheads wore it, as did punks, and pretty much every rock group that came after it.

See? It’s a real laundry list, and the point is its versatility. That short length and stand collar work wonders. McQueen wore it to ride bikes; Davis wore it to make that trumpet sing. Preps threw it on with chinos and oxford cloth shirts. Skinheads put it over work boots and suspenders. It’s had so many lives that it’s become a chameleon garment, beloved by so many that it’s nearly free of all associations. It’s just waiting for you to wear it and ascend to the level of the cool guys that came before you. And most important of all, it’ll follow you through whatever of-the-moment style rabbit holes you fall down during this lifetime.

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Photographs by Florence Sullivan