Steve McQueen/Porsche Leather Jacket

[armscye]

Steve McQueen is apparently the fashion icon of the century. In addition to being claimed as a Belstaff wearer, and having a Barbour collection, he is now the subject of a Porsche Design Collection, which includes leather jackets for men and women.

Interestingly, Porsche does not style their McQueen jacket as an A2-- the leather jacket with which he is most closely associated. Instead, they take the Harrington style that McQueen wore in a Life magazine spread, and render it in leather rather than McQueen's original tan cotton.

 

[Dinerman]

It looks a lot like a Members Only jacket.

 

[handymike]

How much does something like that set a guy back?

 

[mendelboaz]

Way too much, probably.

 

[ranger4-7]

Sorry, but that looks utterly uninteresting . I say that, fully acknowledging how much of McQueen's style I admired. Maybe if it were in the tan cotton, I'd give it a second look.

 

[Big J]

Why hasn't Porsche got a photo of McQueen wearing it? Why haven't I ever seen that pic? I'm guessing that's because it's not 'iconic'. I'm guessing it's not iconic because it's a pretty average looking jacket.

When a car brand is making it's money selling everything else but cars, there's a problem. I remember a few years ago Porsche was selling a selection of pipes. This jacket reminds me of Joey in Friends, the one where he bought a Porsche jacket and spent all day standing in the street next to someone else's parked Porsche, to pick up girls.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I am fond of McQueen but some overrate him greatly. Can't see him in that jacket.

 

[devilish]

Maybe if Paul Newman had worn it then it might be cool. Newman was everything McQueen wished he was and more.

 

[thor]

Companies and commercial enterprises pay for the rights to use a deceased celebrity name and likeness from the family estate. Some names and photo likenesses are cheaper to "buy" (or "rent") and yet are still iconic, thus being more lucrative to market then others. I would guess that Steve McQueen being linked to this jacket is just a case of a company cashing in on his "coolness" appeal.

 

[thor]

Maybe if Paul Newman had worn it then it might be cool. Newman was everything McQueen wished he was and more.

In "The Towering Inferno", Newman was supposed to play the Fire Chief and McQueen the architect. However McQueen felt the Fire Chief was the more heroic role and talked producers into switching the roles.

 

[Sloan1874]

Given that the architect was essentially a cowardly character, I'd have done the same!

 

[Seb Lucas]

Maybe if Paul Newman had worn it then it might be cool. Newman was everything McQueen wished he was and more.

I hear ya.

 

[technovox]

Maybe if Paul Newman had worn it then it might be cool. Newman was everything McQueen wished he was and more.

Really? How so? I guess for me, Paul Newman lost the "cool" factor when he put his face on a bottle of salad dressing. McQueen was always cool to the bitter end. Just my humble opinion. But absolutely, they were both legends.

 

[Big J]

In "The Towering Inferno", Newman was supposed to play the Fire Chief and McQueen the architect. However McQueen felt the Fire Chief was the more heroic role and talked producers into switching the roles.

Ah, great disaster movie. I'm gonna watch that right now, instead of working. Thanks!

 

[nick123]

All I know is Paul Newman loves L.A, so he wins.

 

[devilish]

Really? How so? I guess for me, Paul Newman lost the "cool" factor when he put his face on a bottle of salad dressing. McQueen was always cool to the bitter end. Just my humble opinion. But absolutely, they were both legends.

That bottle of salad dressing (and many other products) has raised millions for charity, you should look it up sometime. $380m to be precise and he never took a penny. Tell me that isn't cool.
It's pretty well known in movie historian circles that McQueen had a chip on his shoulder for Newman and was jealous of him.
I like McQueen but I always felt he tried a touch too hard. Newman always seemed natural and effortless. Also the 'cult' of Steve McQueen gets a little nauseating sometimes. Just an opinion, take it or leave it.

 

[Seb Lucas]

That bottle of salad dressing (and many other products) has raised millions for charity, you should look it up sometime. $380m to be precise and he never took a penny. Tell me that isn't cool.
It's pretty well known in movie historian circles that McQueen had a chip on his shoulder for Newman and was jealous of him.
I like McQueen but I always felt he tried a touch too hard. Newman always seemed natural and effortless. Also the 'cult' of Steve McQueen gets a little nauseating sometimes. Just an opinion, take it or leave it.

Exactly - having worked in philanthropy I can vouch for Newman's charity. He made a decision decades back that he should harness his fame for a cause greater than just buying himself sportscars.

McQueen has his place as a performer but his range was limited. In his favour, those kinds of minimalist performances with limited dialogue and even less emoting date slower than other performances and are harder to assess critically.

 

[armscye]

In all fairness to McQueen:

He died at 50 of a wasting disease, which certainly limited his opportunities for philanthropy.

While not the most versatile actor, he had a rare screen presence that has kept him contemporary despite his death. To quote "My Favorite Year", he wasn't an actor, he was a movie star.

McQueen's connections with Porsche were deep and genuine. He drove a real Porsche 917 at racing speeds for his film LeMans, and owned multiple Porsches in his personal life. So a Porsche McQueen collection is not a mere marketing exercise.

All that said, I think the jacket in question is, as one post said, kind of a Members Only exercise. The Germans like knit collars a bit too much for my tastes, and the Harrington sew pattern doesn't work well in leather.

 

[technovox]

Perhaps not widely known, is that Steve McQueen did charity work as well. For example, he was very generous with his time and donations for a Boy’s Reformatory School. He was just very low key about it. Typical of his style.

But, assuming we were originally discussing “cool” factor, Steve McQueen, leather jackets and Porsche…not philanthropy; a quick google search revealed numerous classic shots of McQueen in a leather jacket. Here’s one in which he seems to be standing in front of what could be a Porsche? Wearing a suede jacket.
Not my favorite example, but I’d pick this one over the Harrington style any day…or at least on any Sunday.

 

[thor]

In all fairness to McQueen:

He died at 50 of a wasting disease, which certainly limited his opportunities for philanthropy.

While not the most versatile actor, he had a rare screen presence that has kept him contemporary despite his death. To quote "My Favorite Year", he wasn't an actor, he was a movie star.

McQueen's connections with Porsche were deep and genuine. He drove a real Porsche 917 at racing speeds for his film LeMans, and owned multiple Porsches in his personal life. So a Porsche McQueen collection is not a mere marketing exercise.

All that said, I think the jacket in question is, as one post said, kind of a Members Only exercise. The Germans like knit collars a bit too much for my tastes, and the Harrington sew pattern doesn't work well in leather.

Totally agree with all that you stated; I didn't mean to imply that Porsche was just randomly or shamelessly marketing Steve McQueen, just that almost anyone can pay to use a celebrity name or likeness for almost any advertising purpose. For my tastes, I just wish they designed a cooler jacket when referencing Mr. McQueen (somehow, it seems like "Steve McQueen" and "cool" have become synonymous in our daily lexicon).