Magnoli Co Hughes Jacket

[bburtner@moran]

Was looking on Magnoli Co,spotted the so called Howard Hughes leather jacket.My question to you guys and gals is: Is this a type of re issue piece? A hybrid type jacket.It is dashing looking to say the least.Does any other "quality" leather co make something similar?Thanks Brian.

 

[1911 Man]

All Magnoli Clothier pieces are custom tailored garments. Magnoli has been an active member of this forum and the Indygear.com Club-Obi-Wan for some time. All of his designs are recreations of period clothing or replicas of movie clothing. None are re-issues. All are designs created by him, and he can replicate and custom make anything you can get accurate pictures of.

Overall from what I have read, all of his stuff is very good quality. I have his Adventure shirt, which is a replica of the Indiana Jones shirt. It fits perfect, and the material is very good, but the collar is distinctly inaccurate. Others who have bought his leather garments say they are very good.

 

[Nighthawk]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't say that I've ever seen a picture of Hughes wearing the style of jacket from the film. (I realize Magnoli makes copies of film jackets, of which he does a great job. I'm not faulting him for that ).


Below is a famous NY Times photo of Hughes:

And a painting (I don't know how accurate the jacket is):

 

[Indy Magnoli]

This jacket is based on the one worn by Leonardo Dicaprio in "The Aviator":

Here is one of my customers in a more modern outfit:

Kind regards,
Magnoli

 

[H.Johnson]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't say that I've ever seen a picture of Hughes wearing the style of jacket from the film. (I realize Magnoli makes copies of film jackets, of which he does a great job. I'm not faulting him for that ).

I think you are right. The jacket worn in the film purports to be based on an original supposedly made by Belstaff. Aficianodos of the early garments made by that company think this highly unlikely, and no other examples or adverts etc. for that style have come to light. Some people think that the new Belstaff company (based in Italy) made up the design as a product placement exercise. I'm sure that at least some of those people would welcome proof to the contrary.

The famous photograph of Hughes in a leather jacket is from a much later date than the supposed appearance of the jacket that DiCaprio wears in the film. I'm sure that there is a much larger market for people who want a jacket like Mr. DiCaprio's than Mr. Hughes's, so Mr. Magnoli certainly can't be faulted in marketing terms. <Added later> I have just recalled that British film costume designer Sandy Powell designed the jacket (and other costumes for the film). I don't know if Belstaff made the film jacket(s) but their logo that appears on the sleeve didn't come out until some 50 years after the depiction...

By the way, some people think that the jacket in the later photograph is by Levi Strauss. It's difficult to comment, as that style was rather generic at that time.