The pursuit of fashion spreads to waterproofs and waders
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Your support makes all the difference.You may not think so, but fishing can be just as much about labels, and fashion, as any catwalk front row. Fishermen give each other the once over and check the labels, too. Mmmm, so he's got a Patagonia fleece, Simms waders or Le Chameau wellingtons... a Hardy reel, a Sage rod, is that the latest working of the SST jacket? Fisherman aren't impartial to a bit of bitching, either. I've heard some say things like "I was thinking of getting one of those jackets but then I went to America and the entire North American team had, apparently, rejected it in favour of the Wackatiti Trout Grayling Salmon Eel Occasional Whale jacket with integral dinghy facility. So I ordered one. Can't get them here yet."
This kind of one-upmanship makes me laugh, because it's exactly the same as I used to hear in the days when I was fashion editor. The difference is that, on the river bank, performance comes first. In terms of clothing, everyone is looking for the ultimate fleece, the waterproof jacket that keeps the wind and the rain out, the waders that don't leak after one season. If you've got a bit of kit that's not available in this country and shows you've travelled, then all the better. And if you had to put your name on a waiting list for it... well!
Quite early on, I identified "my" label of choice, and it was Patagonia. When Patagonia clothes first came out, (probably because the people behind the label were climbers, fishers and general action people) they were very much about function over looks and there were some pretty hideous Aztec fleeces. This was true of most "action" gear; it's only in the last decade that it's started looking good as well (although why some manufacturers still insist on "feminising" fishing clothing with ridiculous girlie linings/patterns I just do not know, all we want is the same stuff the men have but in sizes to fit us). But eventually Patagonia honed its stuff so that it was still about high performance – essential – but in covetable styles.
Last week Charles Jardine invited me to fish with him, an event I'll report on fully next time. Immediately I saw him, I clocked his very nice Patagonia fleece jacket (in reference to the status this label has in fishing, Charles very aptly calls it "Patagucci"). "Is it one of the windproof ones?" I asked, ever so slightly salivating, since the Patagucci windproof fleeces are much sought after and not that easy to find in this country (you can find them but often in not great colours or sizes XXXXL). It was indeed windproof and he'd found it apparently, in a corner of Farlows. I only have one windproof fleece and it's a waistcoat style and my boyfriend and I, when it's very cold, reminisce about the time we hesitated over buying Patagucci windproof fleeces because the price – they are not cheap, about £180 – floored us.
When it was time for lunch, which Charles and another of the grown-ups, Gary, were making, Charles took off his jacket. I joked with him not to leave his fleece lying around or I'd have it. After lunch he insisted I wear it to keep me warm whilst fishing. Sadly, the Jardine spirit wasn't imbued in the lining because I caught nothing. I rummaged around the pockets looking for secrets, but if there had been any, they'd been removed.
When it was time to go home, Charles insisted I keep his jacket, which I thought was an act of generosity too far. A lot of running backwards and forwards between his car and mine ensued with proclamations of "No, I can't" and "Go on, I'll get another one" resounding around the car park. In the end I went home in it. Earlier I'd been chatting to Neil, who worked at the fishery. He'd been eating a Mars bar. "I fancy a Mars bar now," I'd said; so Neil had gone to get me one. Evidently I was on a roll. Whilst all the "No I couldn't/Yes you could" had been going on between Charles and I, Gary drove out in his brand new, twin cab four wheel drive truck-car thing. It was extremely shiny and silver and my eyes widened. "Nice car, Gary," I said.
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