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June 20th 2009 Culture

Some of you are familiar with the landmark SF works of William Gibson, and some of you have even read a book he wrote called Pattern Recognition, set in the time immediately following 9/11.  The heroine of the work, Cayce Pollard, owned a jacket that played a minor, but poignant role in the book.  It was her most valued possession, a black “Buzz Rickson’s” Air Force flying jacket.

I always assumed that this item of clothing was wholly of Gibson’s imagination, but no, it’s real.

It’s also pretty darned cool, if you can afford the stiff tariff.

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-Bill Quick







Comments on this post:

  • Scott
    June 21st, 2009 | #1

    They sell a perfect copy of that down at the army-navy store for about $40 - they work good, too, wore one for years. I think it’s still in my Cold Weather clothes box in the shed.

  • Dodd
    June 21st, 2009 | #2

    90 bucks online if your local AN Store doesn’t have one.

  • Bill Quick
    June 21st, 2009 | #3

    90 bucks online

    Thanks, Dodd. I love my readers.

  • jack
    June 22nd, 2009 | #4

    Been weearing that jacket for years. Warm and really comfortable. Doesn’t impede movement–and it has a decent number of pockets.

    And it’s reversible into a VERY visible hunting jacket.

    Try the AN store first–it should be cheaper than online

  • kimdutoit
    June 22nd, 2009 | #5

    Not worth it, in Texas. Anyway, my Barbour Commando jacket is cooler, in every sense of the word, plus I don’t get to look like an old biker wannabe.

    Absolutely indestructible.

  • growler
    June 23rd, 2009 | #6

    If you want the real thing, get one from Alpha Industries. They make the ones the US Air Force uses, and clueless tools like Sean Penn wear (see: http://www.wherestheseesaw.com/?p=10).

  • Bill Quick
    June 23rd, 2009 | #7

    Yeah, I saw the Alpha version here, for eighty bucks. Some of the detailing is different, though. I think the Alpha version is the current one, and the Rickson’s probably the original. Rickson’s is legendary for monomaniacal attention to detail and accuracy. See this for a fairly accurate description of what is going on.

  • growler
    June 23rd, 2009 | #8

    Oh, I know the Alpha is different — the orange lining alone tells you that. And the one above looks a bit snugger. Frankly, I’d rather have a Rickson’s than the Alpha I do own; I was just pointing out for anyone who wants a semi-decent MA-1 rather than a lot of the really crappy copies you can run into out there.

  • Bill Quick
    June 23rd, 2009 | #9

    growler, you know what I’m really interested in? That Sterling Pea Coat. I used to have an authentic Navy issue back in the late sixties - my uniform then was Levi 501s, roughout cowboy boots, some sort of shirt, and that pea coat. Must have worn that combo for about a year straight at one point.

  • growler
    June 23rd, 2009 | #10

    BTW, I am really upset that you introduced that site to me. They have SO MANY amazingly great clothes I can’t afford!

  • growler
    June 23rd, 2009 | #11

    One more thing: Anyone in NYC who likes old clothes like this, and has serious coin, should check out a store in the East Village called Dead Stock. If I were a rich man, I would have been very happy the time I poked my nose in there.

  • growler
    June 23rd, 2009 | #12

    Where are you seeing the pea coat?

    I used to have a really, really old NYC cop pea-like coat, which I loved. It eventually either fell apart or got eaten by moths (I forget which). Much like my dad’s old Woolrich red-and-black plaid hunting jacket, which I wore to death. I tried to replace it with an old one from eBay, which is nice, but not quite the same.

  • Bill Quick
    June 23rd, 2009 | #13

    The pea coat is here.

    I have just discovered that the whole 1950-60s “traditional look” is hot hot hot in certain circles. Who knew? But apparently there is a whole blogging subculture devoted to the notion, and a big part of it is scrounging through thrift shops for the abandoned Brooks Bros. items.

    I myself, for instance, picked up today at my nearby Goodwill a very nice bespoke Brooks double-breasted blazer with peaked lapels that fits me almost perfectly. It was on sale at half price, and of course I took my senor discount on top of that, so the total was $5.60 for something that cost somebody else a hell of a lot more originally. And being Brooks bespoke, it will last an eternity.

    Of course, if I keep losing weight, it will have to be taken in a bit, but that is manageable with a good alterations tailor. I think I can probably have it done right here in town at the Brooks store, although I haven’t checked.

  • growler
    June 23rd, 2009 | #14

    Oops. Store is called Stock Vintage. I = old.

    http://nymag.com/listings/stores/stock-vintage/

    Never been here, but I will go soon:

    http://nymag.com/listings/stores/rue-st-denis/

    A few months back (and I forget where, I’m sorry) I read an article on some guy who makes his living trolling through the West and Midwest in places that are barely towns looking for vintage denim and clothes. Fascinating.

  • Bill Quick
    June 23rd, 2009 | #15

    Old Woolrich is very desirable at the moment.

    In fact, all the stuff I remember from my kid-young man days it pretty cool. Now I wish I hadn’t ditched my madras sport coat, or my madras slacks. (No, I never wore them together….)

  • growler
    June 23rd, 2009 | #16

    Oooh. That pea coat is nice. I’m used to the ones that flare out at the bottom.

    The two stores I posted about here in NYC are PRICEY. There’s one consignment shop I know of where you can find Turnbull & Asser and other high-end brands for cheapish, but still pricey. Thrift shops I know of don’t usually have good stuff, though you can find Brooks Bros. in many of them.

    Anyone we’re boring with our blather, tough.

  • growler
    June 23rd, 2009 | #17

    And, aside from The Trad, what are some of those sites?

  • Bill Quick
    June 24th, 2009 | #18

    I like A Continuous Lean, both as a blog, and for his links. Just use them as a jumping off point, and keep on clicking.

    I also like An Affordable Wardrobe, which is all about wearing good clothes you find in thrift shops. He’s a young curmudgeon, whose motto seems to be that men should dress like grownups.

    Finally, for definitely not thrift shop clothing, I like A Suitable Wardrobe, whose proprietor, a fellow San Franciscan, apparently even wears bespoke underwear.

  • Bill Quick
    June 24th, 2009 | #19

    That NYT article on “Take Ivy” documents the underground but rapidly surfacing “Trad Trend.” Its epicenter is NYC - spawned by the Japanese, who come over here and ransack NYC thrifts for inspiration for Nipponese designer clothing lines - but I’m beginning to see the look on the street here in SF - mostly among young ethnic males - Black and Hispanic, mostly - which will probably signal an upsurge in competition to my rummaging through the Goodwills and Salvation Armies.

    Which is sorta weird, in a way - archetypical WASP duds adorning what those same WASPs probably thought of as the underclasses.

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