What do you do in your leather jacket, what lifestyle does it inspire? Tell us a story! (keep it clean)

[JasonY]

I fondly remember my black lambskin blazer from when I was at school in the late 90's/2000ish. Wilson's Leather or the equivalent. Had a pretty nice brown suede one as well from Banana Republic that I did, in fact, pick up for cheap second hand.

 

[leatherbikescarsnwatches]

I suppose it's like hats.... a fashion thing. When I first picked up an eight panel cap twenty odd years ago, there was only me and Victor Meldrew wearing them that I knew. Then along came Peaky Blinders....

Leather jackets are definitely vastly rarer among my undergraduate charges than they were in my day. I'd say back in the 90s it was still mostly those of us on the alternative fringes wore them, but there were loads of them around. Plenty of kids wearing 70s style jackets like those that later turned up in Fight Club: this was the grunge era, and they were available for under a tenner in just about any charity shop in town. Rare in the university setting - though I do see a few more of them on the street among younger people, maybe they're working and have the scratch for them? It seems too that a lot of mainstream fashion outlets have gone pleather, whereas in my day they'd have cowhide readily available. Not necessarily great jackets, but certainly more durable than the artificial stuff that has taken their place in the fast fashion marketplace.

I don't think we've had a film that would resonate with Ver Kids that featured a hero leather jacket in a long time, which probably also plays into the mix. I'm sure this will change eventually.

I spent years in my 20s trying to find out what were the leather jackets they wore in Ronin and the zippy high revving European sedans in all the chase scenes
But by that time in the 90s I was already wearing leather biker jackets and pea coats and into American muscle cars
It was much later with the use of the internet that I found movies like Vanishing Point and Bullitt with that gorgeous cream colored Challenger and green Mustang
I never stopped wearing the biker style jackets as the guys in the neighborhood I grew up in wore them so I guess I took that neighborhood and those movies with me wherever I've gone since.
The other day I rewatched Ronin and these days I know what the cars are and I also found myself critiquing how Robert de niro's leather fit him a bit loose lol

 

[Prodigal_Jess]

Kids don’t watch films anymore either.

Not entirely their fault. Hollyweird hasn't put out much of any quality in decades...

 

[Edward]

Kids don’t watch films anymore either.

It does often seem a lot of kids have abandoned traditional screen entertainment. My undergraduates still see most of the big releases and streaming shows (almost none ofc them watch linear TV, especially if they've left home), but the cinema definitely isn't the default for them it was in my day. The cost of night at the cinema now is probably a lot to do with that. It's interesting, though, seeing what "vintage" films (in their eyes) from the 90s they still seek out. The Trainspotting and Tarantino posters I remember being the height of cool in our era are still very much a big seller in the poster sales I see on campus. Actually had a very interesting conversation a few years ago with some of them who'd seen Trainspotting2 about how they perceived it vs the view from those of us who had seen the original back in the day, and were experiencing the sequel with very much the themes about memory and nostalgia for your youth in the foreground.

I spent years in my 20s trying to find out what were the leather jackets they wore in Ronin and the zippy high revving European sedans in all the chase scenes
But by that time in the 90s I was already wearing leather biker jackets and pea coats and into American muscle cars
It was much later with the use of the internet that I found movies like Vanishing Point and Bullitt with that gorgeous cream colored Challenger and green Mustang
I never stopped wearing the biker style jackets as the guys in the neighborhood I grew up in wore them so I guess I took that neighborhood and those movies with me wherever I've gone since.
The other day I rewatched Ronin and these days I know what the cars are and I also found myself critiquing how Robert de niro's leather fit him a bit loose lol

It's amazing just how much information on that sort of thing the web has opened up, though I've noticed a definite downgrading of a lot of online content in the last couple of years given there's now so much AI slop in the wild, a good half of it (at least) just flat out misinformation.

Not entirely their fault. Hollyweird hasn't put out much of any quality in decades...

It's tempting to think so, though TBH looking back I think it's like music. There's no less quality around now than there was in the 70s, we've just (mostly) forgotten the dross (people don't tend to turn up at eighties nights in head-sweat bands or deely boppers....), and as a lot of us get older we can sometimes tend to not have the time to seek out the good stuff.

 

[JasonY]

Well, a youth bookended by Red Dawn and Ronin is a tough period with which to compete. The first season of Stranger Things was a piece of nostalgic art and the progressively intrusive CGI slowly stole its soul.

 

[Edward]

Well, a youth bookended by Red Dawn and Ronin is a tough period with which to compete. The first season of Stranger Things was a piece of nostalgic art and the progressively intrusive CGI slowly stole its soul.

I found it entertaining, if somewhat overrated, as a show. I did tend to enjoy it later on though when they got over the eighties nostalgia nonsense and let it just be a story set in the eighties rather than it being about a highly marketable version of the eighties with the more problematic bits neatly edited out. That said, having lived through the eighties, I have no nostalgic yearnings for bringing them back.

 

[TheBladeGhost]

This was me in winter of 88/89. The suede jacket was my second vintage jacket. It was nice although I bought it cheap and I thought it gave me a cool R'n'R vibe.

Unfortunately, a few months later, either June or September I don't remember, I went to a Stray Cats concert in Paris during which I: danced too hard, drank too much, and fainted in the moshpit after some kind of commotion. The morning after the jacket had dried after being soaked in sweat, beer and whatever was on the floor. I deemed it unsalvable and threw it away. The cost of having it cleaned was above the cost of another vintage jacket and the result was not certain.

 

[barnabus]

Washing machine.

 

[Rossn12]

I’m the new guy but thought I’d take a stab at the topic. I remember in my teens seeing Gone in 60 Seconds (Nic Cage, not the good one) and thinking the big deal they made out of his leather jacket was cool. Then I started watching movies like “The Wild One” and seeing Arnold in the Terminator movies, Indiana Jones films and I think my mind connected that all these guys who I thought were so cool were wearing ****** leather jackets. I still see pictures in the celebrity post that I think make guys look cool as Hell.

I started riding motorcycles and the function of leather gave me an excuse to start wearing them. In the Midwest we don’t have a ton of high fashion so now it sets me apart.

So for me, it’s my way of going against the grain. I’m not a rocker and probably not cool anymore (my kids def don’t think so) but I like to give a little nod back at my more rebellious days.

 

[dthieu86]

On a rainy day in Hanoi, I found myself waiting for the courier to deliver a leather jacket I had finally managed to buy.

It is not the most expensive jacket I have ever purchased, but it may well be the one that took me the longest to acquire.

Let me go back to 2023. At that time, Belstaff leather jackets were becoming highly sought after in my local community. Compared with most of the leather jackets available here, they were considered some of the very best.

One day, I visited a friend’s shop and tried on this jacket for the first time. It was a Belstaff Gangster 2.0 in Burnished Gold, one of the more unusual colourways for that model, alongside Olive and Blue.

At the time, I already owned a Belstaff Cougar in a similar Cognac shade. Although I liked the Gangster, I casually told my friend that perhaps I would buy it one day, when the time was right.

Meanwhile, my collection continued to grow. Over time, I added several other Belstaff models, including the Trailmaster, Outlaw, Lowell, Arthley, Porter ...... , together with the Cougar.

In the years that followed, most of my Belstaff jackets were gradually traded away and replaced by Japanese leather jackets. They offered a different experience, something new and exciting that felt worth exploring.

The shop owner’s own style also changed over time. He moved towards a more basic, understated wardrobe built around Ralph Lauren.

The Gangster, however, remained in his shop.

Recently, my Outlaw, the final Belstaff jacket left in my collection, found a new owner. Not long afterwards, the shop owner contacted me to ask about a motorcycle part for his scooter. We both share an interest in vintage Vespa, and somehow the old Gangster became part of the conversation once again.

That was when I realised it might finally be time to bring this jacket home and let it represent Belstaff in my collection.

03 years is probably the longest I have ever waited to own a jacket I truly liked.

What about you?

Hieu

Hanoi, Vietnam

 

[Pandemic]