Leather biker’s jacket a fashion favorite
The tough-guy, black leather motorcycle jacket has become a hard- core fashion favorite on the streets of Paris, New York and Toronto. Call it just one of fashion’s ironies, but clean-cut, respectable nice guys are wearing the seemingly nasty jackets with T-shirts and blue jeans, while equally well-bred women are teaming their he-man biker styles with refined Hermes scarves, slim skirts and high heels.
An American invention from the ’40s, the motorcycle jacket has innocent beginnings as a functional piece of riding gear. It’s made from tough leather to protect a motorcyclist’s skin from slides along the pavement, and was originally created in black to conceal grease stains.
But the jacket soon came to have more sinister associations as gangs of bikers like the Hell’s Angels adopted it as a uniform. That malevolent biker image, along with the jacket, was immortalized by Marlon Brando in 1953′s The Wild One and the jacket’s aggressive overtones have stuck ever since.
As for the jacket’s heavy-duty hardware – the metal snaps, zippered forearms, a buckle-belted waist and an oversize zipper running diagonally up the front – those hostile elements also have their purpose. The zippers and belt, for instance, keep the wind out and allow a tight fit that stops the jacket from inflating in the wind at high speeds. The snap-down collars and lapels keep those pieces from flapping in a biker’s face.
It’s practical concerns like those that have author George Jonas wearing motorcycle jackets. Not only does Jonas own two Japanese street bikes, but he races both a 1000cc Ducati and a Norton.
“I have several jackets, but most people who race bikes do. It’s not remotely unusual,” says Jonas, who wears a regulation one-piece leather suit for races and the jackets for street driving. “I had no idea that it was a fashion item.”
Motorcycle leathers are, in fact, very uncomfortable, according to Jonas. “They’re very tough and stiff. You slide for a while on pavement in that leather and you can get up and walk away,” he explains.
It’s that same toughness that had ex-model Martha Burnett forgo the classic motorcycle jacket for a Parisian fashion variation on the theme in a softer skin. “I tried the black leather Perfecto, but it’s so stiff that if you move your arm the whole jacket moves,” says Burnett.
Instead, Burnett chose a cropped collarless style that’s much like a classic Chanel jacket. It has a tongue-in-cheek toughness, with zippered pockets surrounded in studs and biker-style appliqu s that say Harley Davidson, Norton and Matchless on one sleeve while there’s a tattoo-like appliqu of a naked woman riding a dragon on the other sleeve and a gold skull on the front. “Everyone asks where my motorcycle is,” laughs Burnett.
Photographer Peter Strube bought the quintessential biker’s jacket in Paris – an authentic Perfecto by Shott that’s made in the United States. But instead of getting the hard-edged, stiffer black style, he bought a departure from the functional jacket in softer dark brown leather.
“It was a tough clich ; now it’s a fashion icon,” says Strube. “I’ve just seen a fashion photograph of Christie Turlington on the beach in one over a bathing suit. You can’t get more acceptable than that.”
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