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There are about as many truly iconic military jackets as there are fingers on two hands hand. Icon status seems to occur when a style is associated with a sort of triple-threat of cultural reference. World History (an easy one for military jackets), Film History and Music History.
The M41, M43, M44 "IKE", USN N-1, USAF B9, M51 and M65 are a few examples. You can play your own game of unearthing film and music references for some of these but two of the all-time greats are the M51 and M65 "FISHTAIL" Parka. This example from the DGL is an M65 version without the hood or installed.
This workhorse design has inspired a few of our designs including the Advisor, the Trouper and Orkney jackets.
These two versions fell into the mod-era, the M-51 released in 1951 for the Korean war, and the lighter M-65 edition associated with the 1965 escalation of the Vietnam War. Since Quadrophenia by The Who was both a musical cultural phenomenon and a film phenomenon, the fishtail parka's appearance on the album cover and movie poster assured it would rank high on the icon scale in men's outerwear.
Before we created we collected.
But we collect not just to acquire; we collect to examine, analyze, and to learn. Decades in the making, the DENHAM GARMENT LIBRARY supplies the raw material for our research, design and development. We can’t benefit from tailoring traditions unless we understand them better, and new ideas crumble if they’re not built on a strong foundation. Each item in the library tells a story and each one represents a starting-point for our collections.
Our single-minded obsession with workwear is the primary inspiration for the brand. Our conviction that deep knowledge comes with extensive research is central to the whole studio’s design approach. The label’s own growing archive is home for an expansive collection of archetypal jean models as well as workwear, military clothing and travel gear from the last century all the way up until today.
We know our predecessors, our contemporaries and our competitors. We take inspiration from anyone and any place producing relevant ideas but we’re never content simply to reproduce someone else's approach even if that person's name has been safely lost to history. The research feeds our passion and our passion is to progress our tradition ever forward.
WORSHIP TRADITION. DESTROY CONVENTION