The Enduring Appeal of the Leather Jacket
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When I walked on the stages of the world without him,” Patti Smith wrote in Just Kids, “I would close my eyes and picture him taking off his leather jacket, entering with me the infinite land of a thousand dances.” She was referring to Robert Mapplethorpe in her 2010 memoir, which was as much an ode to their relationship as it was a remembrance of 1970s New York, a place whose whole vibe may have found its truest sartorial expression in the late photographer’s signature piece of clothing: his leather jacket.
The garment’s association with the cultural zeitgeist has endured. In 1983 Madonna arrived on the pop music scene with her debut album—and a wardrobe of leather jackets. The supermodels caught on in the ’90s, led by Kate Moss, whose preferred off-duty look gave her a rock star sheen. Fast-forward to 2024, and leather jackets were all over the fall runways, as designers from Michael Kors to -Miuccia Prada offered their own high fashion iterations. “Right now, the idea of investing in something that you know will stand the test of time is appealing to people,” Kors tells T&C. “A leather jacket works everywhere, it’s for all genders, it can be dressed up or down, and you’ll wear it forever.”
Plus, there’s the way it makes you feel. “Putting on a leather jacket is like method acting,” stylist Elizabeth Sulcer says. “You create a character that is already there, one that is powerful, confident, and glamorous.”
Before the jacket became associated with such descriptors, it was a humble military garment, used during the world wars as an outer shell for pilots who flew planes with open cockpits. In the late 1920s Irving Schott gave it a makeover. He replaced the military--issue buttons with a zipper and added the double-breasted cut, effectively turning the jacket into a uniform for motorcyclists, who were drawn to its practicality.
Then came Marlon Brando. For his role as the leader of a motorcycle gang in 1953’s The Wild One, he wore a Schott—and forever transformed the jacket into a symbol for smoldering rebels everywhere. So great was the film’s cultural impact that schools across the country outlawed the “Brando Look.”
“What has given the design staying power is that it has been the uniform for bad boys (and girls),” Jason Schott, Irving’s great--grandson, tells T&C. “It makes such a strong statement that once, when my kids were little, they saw someone wearing a Schott and said ‘Look, Daddy, a bad guy.’ ”
Today the people wearing it may be different, but the message is the same, whether the jacket features Schott’s diagonal cut (see: Burberry) or a straight zip-down silhouette, also known as the aviator jacket (see: Prada). “It’s one of those items that gives you that feeling of modern power,” Kors says. “And I love that it gets better with time.”
The Shopping Edit
Hiltex Leather Jacket
Hiltex Leather Jacket
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NordstromLambskin Jacket
Lambskin Jacket
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Saks Fifth AvenueLeather Jacket
Leather Jacket
ralphlauren.com
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Ralph LaurenMoto Jacket
Moto Jacket
theory.com
$245.00
TheoryThis story appears in the September 2024 issue of Town & Country SUBSCRIBE NOW
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