This Vintage Jacket Is a Badge of Honor

RYAN SLACK

My Baracuta is a combination of my two favorite things. I grew up in a working-class family, but my father was a very stylish man who would save up to buy things. His style was informed by the ’40s and ’50s, which means the Baracuta jacket was always a part of his vernacular. Paul Newman. Steve McQueen. Tab Hunter. Any rugged Hollywood type wore this jacket. It represented a very clean, American thing that I love.

Also, we couldn’t afford to travel, so I was jealous of people who went around the world or went on camping trips and collected badges from the places they’d been. I even joined the Cub Scouts just so I could collect badges. I think they’re beautiful in and of themselves but also as a mark of where you’ve gone.

When I saw this Baracuta jacket from the ’60s on Instagram seven or eight years ago, my first thought was I don’t care how much it is or where it’s from, I have to have it. The badges are from Italy, France, Switzerland—all places that, when I was a kid, I thought I would never get to visit. They were the dream places.

The Instagram post was from Gauthier Borsarello, a cofounder of L’Etiquette magazine, the creative director of the French brand Fursac, and a vintage dealer. It was the first time I connected with him. Since then we’ve met, and we even buy vintage from him for my store. This jacket was the beginning of that relationship.

Because it’s lined, I can wear it in the winter. As soon as that first chill comes in the air, I pretty much wear the jacket until it gets too warm. It was in amazing shape when I bought it, but I shred all my clothes. If the jacket gets a hole in the sleeve, I’ll patch it and that’ll be that. It’ll just get better as it fades and shreds. It’ll get trashed at some point, but I’ll wear it until I can’t wear it anymore.

Baracuta G9 Harrington Jacket