Queen Elizabeth’s Signature Barn Jacket Gets a Fashion Makeover

Fashion girls just want to be royals.

Ever since Prada’s spring/summer 2024 runway show last February, barn jackets became every fashion girl’s Roman Empire. The utilitarian staple—known for its contrasting collar and heavy-duty fabric—was heavily featured in the collection. Maroon, dark green, and navy versions with leather collars draped over fringed embellished dresses and skirts, giving the gorpcore trend a whole new meaning. The show immediately brought up images of the English countryside, as visuals of the royal family, horses, farms, rain, and muddy countryside landscapes danced through my head after its Milan debut. Queen Elizabeth, is that you?

What’s followed since this Prada endorsement confirms my theory: Queen Elizabeth—and her signature barn jacket—is this year’s biggest fashion muse. 

Since its first showing at Milan Fashion Week, designers have rallied behind the barn jacket. Hermès nodded to the late Queen with a series of jackets sporting leather collars and multiple pockets, giving the trend a utilitarian feel. Bottega Veneta’s Matthieu Blazy took a similar approach, adding barn jacket collars to wool coats. McQueen’s Sean McGirr designed an unexpected peplum version, styling it with pencil skirts and hoof-like boots to play up its horse barn origins. Nearly every brand has followed suit: Filson launched a women’s barn jacket inspired by its heritage styles, while J. Crew spotlighted the design in its fall lineup.

See, before fashion girls got their hands on the barn jacket, its biggest ambassador was Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning British monarch, whose love for the outdoors made her a perfect match for the barn jacket and its cousin, the Barbour. The royal was an absolute pro at day-to-night dressing, switching between diamond tiaras and muddy boots regularly, making the outerwear staple the epitome of her style.

She often wore her signature jacket with a floral-print silk scarf over her hair and a neutral-toned maxi skirt. Other royal family members like Princess Diana, Prince Kate, and Prince Philip have also cosigned the trend. Even Netflix’s The Crown featured the barn jacket in season 4’s “Balmoral Test” episode when Princess Diana (played by Emma Corrin) wears a camo green version with a brown corduroy collar to a hunt with Prince Philip at the Windsors’ Scottish estate.

Despite its royal connection, the barn jacket had humble beginnings. Hailing from France, it was first introduced in the 19th century and made from cotton or moleskin. The roomy pockets were a fixture from the start, as field workers, farmers, and other laborers—who often needed versatile and durable clothing—wore it to work.

By the 1920s, workwear brands like Carhartt introduced their own versions, making corduroy collars popular and transforming the barn jacket into a wardrobe mainstay. However, it wasn’t until the 1990s that the barn jacket had a full-blown fashion renaissance, thanks to brands like J. Crew and Lands’ End. The former’s famed catalog, for example, featured many a barn jacket in the ’80s and ’90s, styled with a relaxed, laissez-faire attitude layered over a casual button-down shirt and khaki pants—a signature off-duty look of the upper-middle class of the time.

This year’s barn jacket craze is an amalgam of its history. McQueen’s fall/winter 2024 lineup highlighted its farm origins with a worn-out texture alongside horse barn references like hoof-inspired shoes, while Prada’s spring/summer 2024 lineup pushed its 1920s era with flapper skirts. 

But it was at Miu Miu that Queen Elizabeth’s fashion spirit shined brightest. Keeping with designer Miuccia Prada’s “ugly chic” aesthetic, the collection mixed utilitarian staples with ladylike pieces. Farm-approved leather gloves appeared alongside embellished dresses, while barn coats paired with wool pencil skirts. The latter is a formula straight from Queen Elizabeth’s sartorial roster and further proof you can go from regal to woodsy in one quick layer. 

And that’s perhaps why Queen Elizabeth—an unlikely source of fashion inspiration—should serve as the North Star of the barn jacket boom. At a time when fashion’s pendulum is swinging right back to opulence—ranging from the balletcore trend to an unabashed explosion of leopard print—the barn jacket allows women to mix all their personalities in one outfit. Need a roomy jacket with pockets to carry all your cool cargo? Check. Want something that will allow you to dress down the girliest sequins in your closet? Check.

If Queen Elizabeth and the barn jacket are indications, perhaps girls can have their cake and eat it, too.

Cre: https://www.instyle.com/