According to fashion folklore, the late Queen Elizabeth II was so attached to her Barbour Beaufort jacket that when the brand offered to replace her waxed cotton, corduroy-collared style with a newer iteration, she opted to hold on to her well-loved original for 25 years.
Vogue’s edit of the best Barbour jackets:
Those who spent their teenage years in scuzzy underground clubs in the Noughties will know the Beaufort is not only an essential outer layer for royals enjoying a bracing walk in the grounds of Balmoral, it was also – much like the Burberry check trench or the Mulberry Bayswater – a quintessential item of clothing for the indie sleaze generation. An aerial view of Glastonbury’s Worthy Farm in 2015 would surely reveal a sea of green Barbour jackets, with Alexa Chung at its epicentre. Chung’s affection for the British brand that equipped her for both childhood pony rides and Pyramid Stage jaunts is such that she collaborated with Barbour on multiple collections. “I love how timeless it is and how sort of fetishised it’s become,” Chung previously told Vogue of Barbour’s countrywear classics.
With its waterproof waxed cotton coating and bellow pockets, the Beaufort was originally designed in 1982 as a shooting jacket, inspired by the styles that J Barbour & Sons’s chairman, Dame Margaret Barbour, had taken note of on her trips to France. Over 40 years on from its release, it’s as likely to be spied in a chic Soho bar as on a country estate. And, of course, the brand has since expanded its offering beyond the Beaufort, with new jacket silhouettes including the Beadnell, Ashby, Corbridge and Sapper, all featuring the brand’s signature waxed cotton fabric.
So what’s the secret to making this outerwear icon work in 2026? At summer festivals, you’re just as likely to see attendees throwing theirs over a sequinned minidress as you are a pair of muddied-up jeans. But, even away from the fields, we’ve seen a growing number of designer fashion brands present their own iterations on the classic wax jacket (see: the barn jacket trend), which has helped to inspire a new generation of fashion lovers to discover, and offer their own spin on, the OG Barbour wax jacket.
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The classic waxed
