Driza-bone Connections
Here in Australia we all know the iconic brand of wet weather gear aptly called drizabone. However, very few people know that our dear friend the Late John Pickup OAM (1931-2023) was very closely associated with this much loved piece of clothing. John was a member of the AnArt4Life blog team until his death early in 2023.
John's maternal grandfather (Thomas Edwin Pearson) and father (Donald John Henry Pickup) were the original makers of driza-bone coats.
It took a trip to England to remind me of this wonderful example of the art of clothing. I was chatting to Jon, one of my English friends, and somehow we got around to talking about driza-bone which I was surprised to learn he knew about. But not only did he know about our Aussie wet weather gear - he admitted he owned one and loved wearing it in the cold and wet winters of England.
Sure enough a week later arrived, into my email inbox, a photo of my English friend Jon resplendent in his driza-bone. Oh... Louis (all 60 kg of him) also just had to get in the photo!!
The story continued when I was chatting to my cousin Colin Morris (a photographer) and I told him about the photo of Jon in his driza-bone. To my surprise (once more) Colin announced that he also owned a driza-bone and a matching hat (!!) ... yes most definitely he would love to send some photos.
Colin decided to make this a complete fashion shoot and engaged his wife Pam Morris (a professional photographer) to turn Colin into a disgruntled farmer!
To read the story of the Driza-Bone please follow the bookmark link below.
Contributors to Wikimedia projects
Now where will I dig that hole!!!
Thank you Jon and Col - John Pickup would be delighted to know that the driza-bone is still a very much beloved item of clothing.