What’s better than a date with Ali MacGraw? Tending to your wax jacket, according to Steve McQueen

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The UK is no stranger to a sudden downpour and the need to stay somewhat dry has led to some innovative solutions. The best? The wax jacket, which can trace its roots back to the 15th century and a group of clever Scottish sailors.

It was while battling the elements between Britain and the Baltics that they noticed that soaking wet sails operated more smoothly than dry ones. They began to experiment, coating the cloth with fish oils to waterproof it, and then longer-lasting linseed oil (a byproduct of the flax they were transporting) which made them more durable, water and wind resistant.

Soon, leftover pieces of the waxed canvas were being used to create similarly weatherproof clothing, and in the ensuing centuries the jackets went from maritime essential to wardrobe icon, via motorcycle culture and the British countryside.

John Barbour from Galloway, Scotland, established his namesake brand in 1890 and supplied oilskins to the community of lighthouse keepers and sailors. In 1908, the inaugural Barbour catalogue featured an oilskin suit, ‘impregnable by wind or wet’ and styled for motorcycling; and in 1936, his grandson, Duncan Barbour, developed a waxed suit specifically for the International Six Day Trials (one of the oldest off-road motorcycle events). However, Barbour wasn’t the only brand riding the waxed revolution and in the late 1940s, Belstaff, established in 1924, brought out the precursor to its iconic Trialmaster jacket. Northern Irish championship winning motorcycle racer Sammy Miller proclaimed it his ‘lucky charm’ after winning the first race in the 1954 Scottish Six Days Trial while wearing one — and he might’ve been onto something, because he went on to win more than 1,300 races.

Waxed jacket’s durability, practicality and comfort meant that they were ripe for country pursuits. And incidentally, paraffin wax treatments, developed in the 1930s, were only available in black or khaki — the ideal colours for working farmers and sportspeople engaged in activities such as shooting, fishing, riding… and gardening. Barbour and Belstaff brought out new variations to suit their growing customer base. Barbour’s Bedale’s shorter cut and thornproof fabric was snapped up by equestrians; the Beaufort’s full length rear pocket perfectly concealed a newspaper or bag of small groceries; Belstaff’s Trialmaster is still designed with a slanting front pocket for storing maps in.

Steve McQueen, actor, race car driver and ‘King of Cool, was the wax jacket’s indisputable poster boy and he wore Barbour and Belstaff models on and off screen (rumour has it that he was so fond of his Belstaff that he cancelled a date with Ali MacGraw in order to stay home and wax it). And its poster girl? Elizabeth II. In 2017, Dame Margaret Barbour, the company’s current chairperson, revealed on Woman’s Hour that she’d offered the monarch a new jacket to mark her Diamond Jubilee (2012). The Queen politely declined, but agreed to have her existing jacket, which by then was thought to be a quarter century old, rewaxed. She later remarked to Margaret, while handing her her CBE, that ‘every closet in Britain must have a Barbour jacket in it’.

The current sartorial mood encompasses functionality, sustainability and the British countryside and so the wax jacket’s popularity shows no signs of waning. Barbour’s stream of designer collaborations, including Erdem, Alexa Chung and Paul Smith, has ensured that its desirability transcends generations, while high fashion brands such as as Loewe and Toteme have produced their own versions, drawing in the international style set and guaranteeing this piece of British design icon a place in the wardrobe of greats.