Winter’s over but it will unfortunately come back. With it around the corner one more time comes the stress (pleasure?) of renewing your wardrobe. It’s always extiting for a lot of guys now to reconstruct their look for the new seasons to come. Well today I’m going to talk about an element that you’ll only need to buy once and wear every year, probably forever… Well until we all wear iron suits, titanuim helmets and computer eye-glasses… You know, things from the future. Anyway, that element is the leather jacket. Seriously, could you tell me which year starting in the 1950′s it wasn’t trendy at all? I can’t think of any. Here’s a top 5 reasons why a leather jacket is always cool:
1) It’s practical
I’ll hear all the fashion victims go “who cares about that?” here. Well, before everything else, clothes are meant to avoid you being naked. One, because it’s forbidden in most places, and two, because they protect you from the cold we are not naturally made to handle. A leather jacket protects you from the cold by fitting close to your chest and arms. It blocks efficiently the cold air from getting inside your clothing. That and the fact that it also protects you from the rain and the wind, and when you fall from your motorcycle, is the main reason why bikers wear it everywhere.
2) Bikers’ favorite accessory, after their bike
Speaking of the bikers: they love a rough looking leather jacket. It’s been their iconic accessory, beside having a bike, for a longtime now. Bikes don’t have any roof or anything else to protect the driver so the only way to physically and directly shelter from the elements in to wear resistant clothes. Leather is a very resistant material since it doesn’t tear as easily as other materials. It can be very heavy and is probably the best compromise between body protection and material flexibility. I have never seen anyone wear steel clothes yet.
3) Trendy throughout the years
Even though it’s the main accessory to a real biker, the leather jacket was introduced by the great faces of Hollywood in the 50′s. Monsters like Marlon Brando, Jimmy Stewart and Gary Cooper were the first ones to broadcast to the world the most famous clothing accessory. Also picked up by singers like Elvis Presley, the leather jacket made its way all throughout the year up until now. Hippies, grunges, punks, in the 60s, 70s 80s and 90s all somehow inserted leather jackets in their styles and it won’t stop now.
4) It goes with any style
I just told you, the leather jacket’s got though the year from the 50s to now. Every type of style somehow used it. It was rock n’ roll, it was punk, it was techno/dance, and now it’s also rap and hip hop dethrowning the classic sweat pants and sweat shirts. Music has always been an inspiration in terms of fashion. Nowadays the trends lean toward the classic styles. Materials like cashemere, V-Necks, collared shirts, fitted pants (not too tight, not too large), and flat or low shoes. Men get classier and women like it. Still the leather jacket doesn’t wear out! It’s still here. It tends to give a more viril look or a very cool and subtil rockstyle also coupled with Wayfarer glasses, leather shoes and a cool t-shirt.
5) Because women love it
Guys changed over the years. From growing the longest beards in the 60s to taking care of their hair, smell and skin in the 2000s. Well this is the real world now, guys take care of themselves more than they used to. Sometimes, they tend to enhance their feminine side while still keeping the famous “unshaved” appearance. More and more girls like to see a guy with a clean look that marries a fiminine style with a rough and viril clothing. We’re going back to the gentleman appearance of the old Hollywood movies
