Throughout the course of history, Britain’s youth has adopted every look imaginable – whether that be skinhead, hippie, casual, mod, or punk. All of these subcultures, with their own totally distinct look, have only one thing in common – they’ve been photographed by a man called Gavin Watson.
Watson gained cult status through his work photographing Britain’s skinhead movement, which would go on to inspire his book Skins, which would then act as the basis for the 2008 film ‘This is England.‘ Whatever Britain’s youth have been up to over the last fifty years – whether it be good or bad – Gavin Watson was there to document it.
And if you look closely at Watson’s photographs over the decades, one garment crops up again and again: the Harrington jacket.
Which is why a collaboration between Watson and Baracuta – the brand responsible for the original G9 Harrington Jacket – makes a whole lot of sense. A man and a brand that have been orbiting the same cultural space for decades finally meeting up properly.
The standout piece from the collab is the G9 Gavin Watson Patches Jacket – essentially the classic G9 Harrington but covered in photographic patches pulled from Watson’s extensive archive. The jacket itself keeps all the usual Baracuta details: the dog-ear collar with double-button fastening, raglan sleeves, umbrella back yoke and those familiar ribbed cuffs and hem. The difference is that this one feels as much a wearable scrapbook of British youth culture as it does a piece of outerwear.
There’s also a G9 Gavin Watson Printed Lining Jacket, which takes a more low-key approach. From the outside, it looks like a standard Harrington, but inside the lining is printed with photographs from Watson’s archive – a hidden gallery stitched into a piece of clothing that’s been synonymous with those scenes for decades.
Rounding things off are a set of collectable pin badges – four in total, three featuring Watson photographs and one with the Baracuta logo – alongside a pair of T-shirts that translate some of his imagery into graphic prints.
The whole thing feels less like a collaboration between a brand and a photographer, and more like a photographer returning to a jacket that’s been quietly photobombing his work for the last forty years.
The Baracuta x Gavin Watson collaboration is set to release on the 16th of March at Baracuta
