What does one wear with a leather jacket?

[avedwards]

Leather jackets with waistcoats?

Rather than starting a new thread I thought it wiser to revive this one.

Did people wear leather jackets with waistcoats back then? I know it's done by Andy Garcia in The Untouchables, but that is a period film made a lot later.

Did people actually sport this look back then? And if they did, what colour waistcoat would one wear with a brown jacket? Probably brown, maybe taupe or beige. Burgundy?

 

[Phantomfixer]

Wedding?

I just attended a wedding and thanks to the help of The Fedora Lounge, I think I went well dressed. Started off with black trousers with a blue shirt and black tie. Dark blue suspenders/braces(with buttons) with black leather trim. Black leather shoes and to top it off one of my seal brown A-2s. Flat cap for a cover. Wish I had a fedora. My wife enjoyed it lol So thanks for all the pointers guys.

 

[John in Covina]

Rather than starting a new thread I thought it wiser to revive this one. Did people wear leather jackets with waistcoats back then? I know it's done by Andy Garcia in The Untouchables, but that is a period film made a lot later.

Did people actually sport this look back then? And if they did, what colour waistcoat would one wear with a brown jacket? Probably brown, maybe taupe or beige. Burgundy?

It seems plausible in the cooler months as heating in office buildings in the past was hit or miss, waistcoats were an often seen item worn in offices. If you were coming and going a lot would you don & remove a waistcoat or just leave it on?

 

[avedwards]

It seems plausible in the cooler months as heating in office buildings in the past was hit or miss, waistcoats were an often seen item worn in offices. If you were coming and going a lot would you don & remove a waistcoat or just leave it on?

I would have thought that it had less to do with heating and more to do with dressing up. The waistcoat makes the whole thing look smarter. At least I find that when I'm indoors a waistcoat makes little difference in terms of heat unless it's an extremely thick one.

I was just wondering whether I could use a burgundy waistcoat I have my eye on to dress up a leather jacket, whilst providing an interesting alternative to a suit.

 

[Feraud]

I could be wrong but it looks like Garcia is wearing a sweater under the leather.. [huh]

I would have thought that it had less to do with heating and more to do with dressing up.

Quite the opposite. Dressing would have as much to do with living and working in an environment as it did to merely dress up.

 

[John in Covina]

I would have thought that it had less to do with heating and more to do with dressing up. The waistcoat makes the whole thing look smarter. At least I find that when I'm indoors a waistcoat makes little difference in terms of heat unless it's an extremely thick one.

The wool and suit fabrics of that era were very different than the ones today. Ask Matt Deckard and the guys that are knowledgeble in vintage suits. There were no "super" count wools then. Vests of heavier weight wools are still made and they are very much a cool weather item such as ones made by Filson and the David Morgan line up (I like these.) http://www.davidmorgan.com/product_info.php?products_id=1046

 

[avedwards]

I was referring to less heavy wools which one might wear purely out of aesthetic reasons to look smart. Would this be done back then?

 

[avedwards]

I could be wrong but it looks like Garcia is wearing a sweater under the leather.. [huh]

It looks like it actually, though it is a sleeveless sweater if it is one. I must have jumped to the conclusion that it was a waistcoat because of the lack of sleeves.

 

[Edward]

For me it's a matter of pure practicality: whereas I would carry on wearing a suit jacket in the office more often than not, an A2 or similar I will always remove. Once the jacket is off, it's really convenient to have a waistcoat to stow pens, mobile phone, and security pass on my person without huge bulges in my trouser pockets. I'd have done the same back in the day.... and I can't help but think I woldn't have been the only one, even if it wasn't the run of the mill.

The 'collar and tie and leather' look, it seems to me, back then wasn't necessarily what we'd consider 'dressing up' a casual jacket.... going by photos I've seen, it seems to me that it was more a case that wearing a tie was much more the norm back then. Bear in mind that, going by period photos at least, it was common for guys in overalls to be sporting collar and tie underneath...

 

[John in Covina]

The dress shirt and tie with a leather jacket appears in a number of films like "The Natural."

In the book "Everyday Fashions of the Thirties" which presents the pictures of the clothing in the Sears catalogue published back then there are a couple of pages that show the look as a sporty type. I don't have the other books so I don't know if the look is repeated later or earlier.

Page 88 from 1936 shows leather jackets on the lower half that you see this style.

On page 130 the leather jacket with dress shirt and tie is repeated in 1939.

In some films either from the era or as portrayed later, it seems to be a look associated with the working man such as a truck driver.

Also in the 1930's book it shows men wearing sweaters of a similar cut also wore ties. Ties were simply worn by men a lot more back then.

 

[captaincaveman1]

I've found leather jackets with shirt collars, like the highwayman and A-2, are very versatile. Can be worn with jeans and t-shirt or to the office with slacks and dress shirt.

Just a general observation but I think 90% of the men nowadays have a problem with sizing. Guess its the fashion now but alot of guys buy shirts and jackets way too big and I'm not even talking about hip hop fashion.

 

[storman113]

I quite often wear my leather jacket with a tie. Mostly on weekends when hunting for stuff at the vintage stores or Goodwill. The clerks at the vintage store seem to be more helpful when I'm dressed this way. Also the waitresses seem to pay more attention.

I dressed this way to the local sportsman show just a bit ago. I was the only one not wearing Levi's.

Norm

 

[captaincaveman1]

In a similar vein, this is what I wore to the office today. Khakis, blue dressy shirt, A-2. It's a pretty casual site.

 

[The Good]

I was wondering if anyone could respond to a couple of questions I've had.

1. Is it appropriate to wear a tie with a fur or mouton-collared leather jacket, such as the U.S. Navy's G-1? What about heavier ones such as the B-3?

2. Also, is it acceptable to wear a tie with one of those cotton/canvas or synthetic flight jackets, such as the various varieties of the B-15 that succeeded the A-2's function in World War II?

I'm just asking if a tie will look "right" or "correct" with these types, as I already know it works for the A-2 and A-1 jackets.

 

[captaincaveman1]

I was wondering if anyone could respond to a couple of questions I've had.

1. Is it appropriate to wear a tie with a fur or mouton-collared leather jacket, such as the U.S. Navy's G-1? What about heavier ones such as the B-3?

2. Also, is it acceptable to wear a tie with one of those cotton/canvas or synthetic flight jackets, such as the various varieties of the B-15 that succeeded the A-2's function in World War II?

I'm just asking if a tie will look "right" or "correct" with these types, as I already know it works for the A-2 and A-1 jackets.

A. Wear whatever you feel looks good to you. There are no rules written down somewhere. And, even if there was, there will always be someone who doesn't agree with your fashion sense. Can't please everyone, so why try?

B. Personally, I wear a leather bomber with a fur collar with business casual work clothes all the time. I've never gotten a strange look and even if I did, well see A.

 

[Gancho]

Hi there,

I´m wearing my leather jackets with all kind of my other clothes.
Two jears ago I started wearing my A2 also for business. It´s a nice alternative to always wear a suit. My customers like it. They say that ist looks more down to earth than the other manager guys.

An ordiance for me is: The colour of the shoes MUST be the same than the belt and the jacket.

Regards

Oliver

 

[Fletch]

Fletch Solves Your Leather Problems

Good rule, overall. But I recently paired a "red russet" A-2 (Eastman RW 1401) with dull black shoes (Blundstone 501s). That worked too. But shoe leather gotta match belt leather. That I'm kinda nuts about. OTOH, if shoes and/or belt are nonleather, have a ball.

Tie...I think the more a jacket looks like Equipment rather than clothing, the less advisable it is to try to pair it with a tie. It's a street clothes vs flight gear issue.
Before and during WW2 many aviators did wear a tie. (One reason: the average man wore one on an average day. another: they were part of working military uniforms. best of all: they're useful for anything from tourniquets to wrapping loose fuel lines.)
Once the jet age came, you were too belted in and flightsuited to wear any walking-out clothing.

Suit vests...Why the heck not? See avatar.

 

[John in Covina]

I was wondering if anyone could respond to a couple of questions I've had.
1. Is it appropriate to wear a tie with a fur or mouton-collared leather jacket, such as the U.S. Navy's G-1? What about heavier ones such as the B-3?
2. Also, is it acceptable to wear a tie with one of those cotton/canvas or synthetic flight jackets, such as the various varieties of the B-15 that succeeded the A-2's function in World War II?
I'm just asking if a tie will look "right" or "correct" with these types, as I already know it works for the A-2 and A-1 jackets.

*******
The best bet for this type of stuff is to try it out. If you put it together, you'll be able to tell better by seeing it in action than trying to imagine. Some times there may be questions as to color co-ordination to give a good presentation. But I doubt that the situations above would look terrible at all.

If you do it, you can always post pictures and ask questions here.

 

[KingTigerII]

I'm on the Left. I picked it up for about 10 bucks at Salvation Army and Wear it with anything. It's big on me and It had smelt of heavy cigarette smoke so I took an old sock, filled it with coffee grounds and ran the coat through the dryer three times on low heat (Knocked it out until the coat aired out. I smelled like a big cup o' joe XD )


Should be able to click the pics for a larger image.

 

[Edward]

1. Is it appropriate to wear a tie with a fur or mouton-collared leather jacket, such as the U.S. Navy's G-1? What about heavier ones such as the B-3?

Didn't the USN / USAAF boys do somethig similar? I do it all the time, myself. Firstly, I see no reason whatever to treat a G1 style any differently than an A2 (arguably, actually, my AN6552/G1 type looks a bit dressier, if anything, as my A2 has the Army Air Forces decal on the shoulder).

The B3.... for much of thhis past inter, my B3 has simpyl been the oly coat warm enough to think about wearing out. I have worn it to the office on many occasions - on a day with no formal meetings and wher I don't feel the need to have a suit jacket or blazer on, I'll quite happily wear the B3 over the top of collar, tie, and typically waistcoat (the latter helps by providing pockets for wallet, mobie phone, pens and all the other ephemera one ends up carrying. The B3's own pocket is idea for a pair of gloves, but beyond that....).

2. Also, is it acceptable to wear a tie with one of those cotton/canvas or synthetic flight jackets, such as the various varieties of the B-15 that succeeded the A-2's function in World War II?

For some reason, I have a tendency to think of the B10 and B-15 variants as somehow a touch less formal than the leathers, but there's no rational reason for that. It seems to me that something like the Buzz B15-C on which I have my eye would do just as well as the A2 for this sort of thing. When I get my Buzz, I would certainly wear that to the office in the same way as the A2.

I might suggest that the later 50s spec 'Modified' B 15 types (with the knit collar replacing the mouton), their L2/L2A/L2B contemporaries (the true A2 successor, the B15 being a heavier, cold-weather jacket) and the later MA1s look somewhat less formal, lacking the 'shirt collar' shape of the mouton versions. It could still be done, of course, and look quite well. I'd be inclined to avoid a black one, espcially with a black tie / monochrome elsewhere as you are likely to be mistaken for a boucer / doorman, at least this side of the Pond.