Never mind how it got that name. Never mind that it’s not much to look at on a hanger. Never mind even that Steve McQueen wore one. Once a Harrington jacket is on, it almost always wins a new fan – for its carefully considered detailing, its simplicity, versatility and, let’s face it, for its super cool.

That will explain why Harrington jackets became a staple of not one but four seminal style cultures, and why the latest versions still look as fresh as the first one did more than 80 years ago. Just as easy to wear now as it was then, a Harrington jacket is lightweight, adaptable and suits a range of body types and personal styles – plus, it may just be the ultimate trans-seasonal piece of outerwear, one of the few cool jackets you can wear year round.

What is a Harrington Jacket? A Brief History

A Harrington jacket is a generous, cropped, raglan-sleeved blouson, with a couple of slanted slit or flap pockets, knitted cuffs, fabric side-adjusters, zip-fastening with a double-button, funnel-neck tab collar. Quiz time: what has 1950s Americana and 1970s British inner city life got in common? The Harrington jacket. It was the kind of thing being worn – in bright red – by James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.  But it was also the very same style of jacket that was favored by the original skinheads – back before Neo-Nazis co-opted what was an iconic Ska-loving style tribe.

Dean wore his collar turned up and zipped just at the waist – it’s all attitude; the skinheads sometimes wore theirs inside out, showing off the traditional tartan checked lining. But they both appreciated the simplicity of a garment still replete with useful detailing: lightweight, waterproof, comfortable, and able to be dressed up or down.

Indeed, this perhaps suggests that the Harrington’s origins are British, despite coming to be nicknamed after an American: Rodney Harrington, a character played by Ryan O’Neal in 1960s TV drama Peyton Place, who also favored the style. Before then – and to aficionados now – what became a generic style was known as the G9, the model code British garment manufacturers John and Isaac Miller gave to the jacket when they first launched it under the Baracuta brand in 1937.