Everything about Leather Jacket totally explained
A
leather jacket is a type of
clothing, a
jacket made of
leather. The jacket has usually a
brown, dark
grey or
black color. Leather jackets can be styled in a variety of ways, and different versions have been associated with different subcultures. For instance, the leather jacket has often been associated with
bikers,
military aviators,
rock stars,
punks,
metalheads, and
police, who have worn versions designed for protective purposes and occasionally for their potentially intimidating appearance.
In the
20th century the leather jacket achieved iconic status, in major part through film. Examples include
Marlon Brando's
Johnny Strabler character in
The Wild One (1953),
Honor Blackman as
Cathy Gale in
The Avengers, and
Michael Pare in
Eddie and the Cruisers (1983). As such, these all served to popularize leather jackets in American and
British youth from the "
greaser" subculture in the
1950s and early
1960s. A later depiction of this style of jacket and time was "
The Fonz" in the
television series "
Happy Days" which was produced in the
1970s and
1980s but depicted life in the 1950s and 1960s. The Fonz's leather jacket is now housed in the
Smithsonian Institution, and the
Grease movie duo has also since popularized leather jackets with their
T-Birds male clique. Back then a leather jacket would have cost between $7 to $20 which was expensive consisdering the time.
The leather jackets worn by aviators and members of the military were brown and frequently called "
Bomber jackets" as seen on numerous stars in the 1940s and 1950s such as
Jimmy Stewart in the 1957 film,
Night Passage. The brown leather jacket has been a de rigueur part of the wardrobe of a Hollywood
adventurer, from
Gary Cooper in
For Whom the Bell Tolls to
Harrison Ford in the
Indiana Jones film series. While the black leather jacket fad ended in the early 1960s, bomber jackets, often with
sheepskin collars, have remained popular. They can be seen in the 1986 film,
Top Gun.
There are many more examples of iconic leather jackets worn in popular culture, such as the one worn by the
T-800 character of
The Terminator movies and the longer ¾ length trench coat style worn by action heroes such as
Steven Seagal and
Keanu Reeves and
Laurence Fishburne in
The Matrix films. Another example is the leather jackets worn by
Brad Pitt in the movie
Fight Club, where the antagonist
Tyler Durden constantly appears with different variations of his 'red' leather jacket. Other famous leather jacket icons include those worn by members of the
Black Panthers in the 1960s and 1970s,
punk rock groups such as the
Ramones, the
Libertines, members of
heavy metal subcultures, etc. In most pop culture examples, the jackets are worn by people cultivating an intimidating and potentially violent or rebellious image. The tan leather jacket in particular has become very popular with the
Brit Pop and
Indie music image and culture and is famously worn by people such as
Kelly Jones of the
Stereophonics.
There is a substantial difference between leather jackets made for fashionable purposes and those worn for protection (in activities such as motorcycle riding). Leather jackets designed for protective use are safety equipment and are heavier, thicker, and often equipped with armor, thus becoming a very practical item of clothing regardless of the symbolism invested in them by popular culture. A leather jacket primarily designed for fashion purposes isn't likely to be of much use in a motorcycle accident.
Leather jackets were also popular with the Russian Bolsheviks and were nearly a uniform for the
Commissars during the
Russian Civil War and later for the members of the
Cheka. This practice is said to have been initiated by
Sverdlov.
Further Information
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