Pretty Green Parka Review

Liam Gallaghers' Pretty Green Parka..


OK lets clear up a few mysteries....in various pics of Liam the question has been asked..

Is he wearing the M-65 fishtail parka he bought from us..or his Pretty Green Parka...??

The answer is both.....




The picture on the left is a promo shot of Liam for his Pretty Green Parka and the picture on the right is his Pretty Green Parka standing alone.

Now, lets play a little game......can you guess what it is yet ?..

Lets spot the difference :)

Most could not....we can. And the only other guys in the world to have handled enough kit to know agree with us too. I can tell you now...point blank...the parka Liam is wearing for the Pretty Green Promo is in fact a US MIL issue M-65. And the picture on the right IS his Pretty Green Parka.

His Pretty Green parka is made of heavy cotton and is not quarpel treated. The M-65 is made of light cotton and is quarpel treated..hence the sheen. Also, exact postions of poppers, zip etc give away the fact that the parka he is wearing to promo the Pretty Green is in fact an M-65.

Add this to the fact that we sold the M-65 and indeed the 1st Model M-1951 to him ourselves we can easily see the creation of the Pretty Green Parka and it was even mentioned to us at the time, he wanted to create his own parka.

Here is how to do it.

Take one M-65 fishtail parka, remove the hood. Make this exact same parka out of a similar material to the 1st model M-1951 parka, do not quarpel treat it, add a button to the collar to do it up and you have a Pretty Green Parka. Simple.

And if you check enough pics of Liam in his "fishtail parka" you can see for sure that he swaps between the two.

Still not sure ??...check again......this my friends is a simple M-65 !!! minus its hood

And this is The Pretty Green Parka
Can you see it now ?......

Of course you can :)...if you have even seen one unissued M-65 parka....its staring you in the face

Now...please don't think im knocking the Pretty Green Parka....in all fairness its the best replica fishtail parka I have even seen. Its excellent quality, the cut is perfect and side by side, it is hard to spot the difference...(as this little exercise has shown).

However, the question remains....are you going to pay £250+ for a replica ? when you can actually buy the original for under £100 ?......

So unless you value a little round badge at over £150.....I say, save yourself the bucks, buy an M-65 and un button off your hood.

Thanks for playing :)

Copyright FishtailParkas.com 2009. No part of this article may be copied, transmitted, stored or used in anyway without the express permission of fishtailparkas.com . If you wish to use this article simply contact me.

Liam Gallagher Sports An M-65 Fishtail Parka At Wembley Stadium

Thursday, 09/07/09 was a long damn day……

The BBC picked me up at 10am to take me down to Hendon for filming for Car Booty…..!!….Yes, someone found a parka in their attic and they wanted me to value it etc…..comical !!

Then they dropped me off in Wembley. Where I waiting around for my bro to finally get down there too as we were off to Oasis. Having taken a complete M-51 with me for the filming I was left wondering around with it…..and in the end decided to keep it on for the concert as it was sure to get cooler…

I soon realised I was the only person out of the 60,000 packed into Wembley wearing a genuine or indeed any kind of Fishtail Parka….

Then, after The Enemy and Kasabian the big moment came….

Oasis are now on stage…….and I was now the second person in Wembley wearing a genuine Fishtail Parka…..

The fact that it was indeed the same parka he bought from us, just kinda made it all even better !! :)….

After a long day, the very toughest months of my life…..it all seems worth it again. Thanks Liam :)

More pics and video to come.

 

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Finally, A True Quadrophenia "WHO" Parka !!

As I'm sure all of you know, sometime back Lambretta clothing knocked out a "who parka".

Basically, a khaki green M-65 styled fishtail parka repro with "who" on the back etc....Modelled on The Who’s 1972 Quadrophenia Album cover. (Black and white one)

A lot of you have been asking why I don't stock this Lambretta Who Parka or more importantly, why I don't also do a quadrophenia Who parka ?...

Firstly I don't stock this Lambretta Who Parka simply because I do not stock anything that is not Genuine US Military Issue and the second question:...

Why don't we make one ?

Well we did and WE DO !!;

We first made a "Quadrophenia" tribute p arka around 4-5 years ago. It was a genuine M-1951 as on the album and styled exactly the same, it sold via private auction within days of being released to a US private bidder to be used in a stateside Quadrophenia production.

And thanks to all of you who have been pestering me over this, you will be pleased to hear...we are making them again :)

The Who Quadrophenia Parka !!

There will be two options...M-65 or M-51 and both custom made to order.....:)

I wanted to create something accessible to all, as I know not everyone can stretch to a custom M-51...so, here it is :)...

The True Quadrophenia Parka..... A 100% genuine issue M-1965 fishtail parka using all genuine US MIL issue patches, complete with genuine Wolf Fur hood !!! The Original Who Parka from the Original Specialist… Only £199 Worldwide delivery available..

<<<ORDER NOW>>> Simply <<<CLICK HERE>>>

Now, compare that to your 3 wheeled lambretta trike with lights and mirrors and tell me what you would rather be riding :)

Copyright FishtailParkas.com 2009: No part of this article may be copied, transmitted, stored or used in anyway without the express permission of fishtailparkas.com

The Fishtail Parka, from war coat to fashion icon...

Copyright 2006 fishtailparkas.com


The fishtail parka started life in service to the US army in 1951 to help the American soldiers cope with the freezing conditions in the Korean War.

It was known as the M1951 parka and those wanting the full history on this please see Article©: M1951 Fishtail Parka, history of the vintage M51 parka.

However, in 1960’s Britain the Fishtail Parka took on a whole new life and came to represent an entire era, a lifestyle and a statement of intent.

You were a Mod.

By 1963 the mods were here, they had their own style, their own dress codes, their own transport and indeed their own language. In a fashion culture that changed on a weekly basis forcing mods to work overtime to keep up with the changes, everything from colour to length of jacket side vents, to width of trouser bottoms and style of shoes only one item of clothing managed to stay a constant throughout the life of Mod.

This was the Fishtail Parka (US Army only).

The truth is that exactly how this came about no one really knows, it’s as much a mystery and it is a phenomena. The influencing factors can readily be drawn, fishtail parkas were cheap, warm, relatively water proof and great for riding scooters in a pre-helmet era as one could tie the fur hood right up around your face. Plus, no one else was wearing them on the street and that was important to the mods.

However, no one really knows who started it and how it caught on so quickly. It’s not like anyone can say oh that was Dave, he got one in Whitechapel for a bob and we all thought; “fuck it!…. let’s all get one”.

Therefore, one is left thinking, why not any other warm coat of that time…why that parka and why ONLY that particular parka ??

Yes we all know mods wore other jackets and coats but only one coat kept its place as the first choice for scooter riding and only one coat became the most prolific symbol of Mod and that was the Fishtail Parka.

For me, it is not hard to imagine the early 60’s and a small group of early mods, or maybe even “Coffee Bar Cats” seeking out a warm coat and stumbling across a US Army M1951 Fishtail Parka in the local Army Stores. And seeing the price, seeing the quality, seeing the benefits of warmth, head protection and durability, and the fact that no one was wearing them, made the choice that this was the coat to wear.

They rode back into town adorned in their new gear, espousing the benefits of being warm and dry, the next day 4 more mods went back to that same army store and got themselves kitted out. Within a week, you a one gang of 12 mods all riding around wearing the same Fishtail Parkas.

The same processes took place as they chatted with the mod gang in the next block, and Mr Army Stores was having a good month with lots of new visitors. These early mods, being the trendsetters and likely to be looked up to by new and aspiring mods, were soon copied.

By 1964 Mod was in full swing and thousands of mods were now springing up all over London and all needed to complete their uniform.

And by 1965, Mr Army Stores had retired to a small condo in St Moritz and every mod in London had a M1951 Fishtail Parka…

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M1951 Fishtail Parka, history of the vintage M51 parka.

Copyright FishtailParkas.com 2007.

The M1951 Fishtail Parka. Also known as M51 Parka, M-1951 parka

The very first fishtail parka was the EX-48-1. This was the prototype for the M-48 Fishtail Parka. This prototype featured an attached wolf fur hoood, heavy cotton shell and detachable "fibre glass" based lining plus the major distinction was it had a pocket on the arm (much like the MA1 flying jacket sleeve pocket). The production version was the M-1948 and was the no expense spared parka of the same above specification but featuring fur pile/satin liner....

This model parka is extremely rare and fetch well over £1000 at auction in good condition and complete. (Any one seeking these should contact me as I can get them but be prepared to pay...!!!)

Looking to buy an M51 parka? click here...

The concept of the Fishtail Parka design was to offer flexible extreme cold weather protection through the detachability of all parts and the "fishtail" was designed to be tied around the legs for extra insulation. The fishtail parka rear drawstrings also benefited airborne divisions as when jumping out of planes it could be tied so not to flap up and about.

The first mass production of the fishtail parka was in 1951 and hence the M-1951 fishtail parka, commonly known as the M51 parka was born. The US Military now heading into Korea and needing large amounts of cold weather field gear could not afford to mass produce the heavy, expensive and high quality M-1948. Hence, the M-1951 was born. Quite simply, a cheaper cut down version of the M-48 was needed.

The first generation of these differed from the M1948 parka in that there was no sleeve pocket, the heavy fur pile and satin full fitting lining was replaced with detachable mohair or alpaca lining and the attached hood was unlined and without fur. Whereas the M-48 was a 2 peice construction, M-48 Shell and M-48 Liner, the M-51 was a 3 part contruction with M-51 Shell, M-51 Liner and detachable M-51 Wolf Fur Hood.

Another distinction of the M1951 fishtail parka were that it featured shoulder epaulettes that could be buttoned down to hold hats or other light items.

The 1st generation M1951 fishtail parka was made of the same heavier cotton (canvas appearence) material as the M-48 and featured a thick, heavy Alpaca liner. Once again, this proved expensive to produce and the liners were hard to dry in the field once wet. Hence, the heavier M-48 material was dropped in favour of the more commonly seen thinner, lighter (shiny) cotton and the alpaca was replaced by Mohair Wool very soon into producion (1952). This 2nd Generation M-1951 is the more common of the two.

Production of the M-1951 continued in the US up to 1956 when US production ceased. After this period M-51 production continued in US territory in the now defeated and occupided Germany up until 1958. Notable German manufacturers during this time include Albatross Franz Mayer. Franz Mayer being involved in the production of the Focker Wolfe. Another run of M-51's was made around 1963 for UK and Canadian Specification. After this time, no more M-51's were produced and fishtail parka saw no new events until 1965 when it was once again updated and remade as the M-1965 Fishtail parka.

All models of the M-1951 fishtail parka are highly sought after today and are prized by both modernist connoisseurs and militaria collectors alike. The M-51 complete with all 3 parts and in good condition command handsome sums these days and the values just keep rising. Good condition complete M-51 fetch a minimum of £350-450 ($700-$900) and Mint condition or even Unissued Never Worn fetch a whole lot more. For mint or unissued expect to pay anything from £600 up to £1000 for a perfect example.

News Flash: April 2007, A Mint complete M-51 fetched a record $956 at auction.

A word of warning, unissued M-51 kit is rarer than hens teeth and in 19 years of collecting and 6 years of dealing with the largest surplus dealers and collectors in the world today, I have seen a total of around 60 peices of geunine Unissued Kit and only 7 complete unissued parkas (all 3 parts).

So anyone claiming to have "bundles" of unissued M-51 stuff has either found the holy grail or is full of shit...I tend to go with the latter :)

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