Barbour and Farm Rio partner for collab that blends Britishness with the tropics

Barbour has made a speciality of collaborations in recent years, linking up with as diverse a list as Chloé, Saturdays NYC, Alexa Chung, Baracuta, and Reggie Yates. Its latest collab is with another label very different from its own — Farm Rio.

Launching on 9 September, the company said that “Brazilian tropics beautifully collide with the British countryside” in the link-up that sees Barbour bringing its “quintessential British charm and iconic designs”, while Farm Rio offers its “famously bold prints and playfully feminine features”. The collection features clothing, footwear, accessories, and outerwear.

Three exclusive prints have been created for the collection, drawing on Farm Rio’s signature tropical flora and fauna and Barbour’s heritage family tartans.

There’s the Pink Tartan that reimagines Barbour’s famous Scottish-heritage tartans through Farm Rio’s signature art of printmaking. The background is designed to evoke the texture of woven family tartans with the embroidered pineapple embellishments layered on top.

The Tropical Print is the collaboration’s most emblematic print. It updates a classic scarf design with intricate borders and details, highlighting Farm Rio’s tropical aesthetic. The Brazilian jaguar and pineapple crown celebrate two of the rainforest’s key symbols, contrasting with delicate florals. It’s finished with the green and pink palette that runs throughout the collection.

The Pineapple Print is the collection’s defining allover pattern, featuring the fruit’s crown as a tropical icon.

Nicola Brown, Barbour’s director of womenswear, said: “This is a collaboration in every sense of the word, with the most-loved features that encapsulate the spirit of each brand fused together to create a full collection with irresistible character.”

The supporting campaign was shot in the Cotswolds with British actress-model Imogen Waterhouse, but “illustrative cues from Brazil’s tropical world appear in surreal and intriguing ways, curating a whole new world of expressive dressing”.