Full Leather Jacket

Few people can actually pull it off. I know I can’t. Regardless, the leather jacket, along with blue jeans and a white tee, is a piece of Americana – part of our national dress.

Ever since Brando put one on for his role as “The Wild One” in 1953, the leather jacket has come to symbolize genuine hardiness. True grit. It’s an indicator that the guy wearing it is as tough as the hide from which it’s made. Military pilots wore them, bomber jackets. The greasers wore them, the Hells Angels did too. The rockers wore them, then the punks did. Elvis wore one. Iggy Pop sang “Raw Power” and “Gimme Danger” in a leather jacket featuring a snarling cheetah on the back. The Fonz wore one. The Ramones wore them. Indeed, the leather jacket’s staying power has been assured by its place in pop culture. The image it projects however, has been grossly perverted.

What started as a functional piece of garb, known as much for its resilience as its broken-in comfort, the leather jacket has become little more than a costume. We can thank the Village People, in part, for that. While it remains a practical component of any legitimate biker’s wardrobe, it now covers the shoulders of sissy pretty-boys, cooler-than-thou scenesters, and faux tough-guys. It’s been appropriated by style-minded people who value fashion over function. Consequently, the leather jacket no longer stands for what it used to. Gone are the days when a leather-jacketed dude commanded attention and even aroused a little fear and unease.

As an observer, I have to ask myself: Should I even be concerned with what other people wear? The long-short is NO. People will wear what they want to wear for their own reasons. Just ask Lady GaGa. YES, only cool cats used to wear leather jackets. NO, you don’t necessarily have to be a cool cat to wear a leather jacket. MAYBE, I should just accept that it’s simply the nature of fashion: times change, trends change with them, looks are appropriated. Case in point: lots of people wear cowboy gear (another purposeful style of American dress) without ever having visited the range or ridden a horse. And who am I to judge? I’m no authority. YES, I used to wear motorcycle gloves to keep my hands warm. NO, I’ve never manned a motorcycle. So YEAH, wear what you want. Even if you aren’t a tough-guy or a bicycle racer or a homeless man or a pro ball player or a rock-and-roll star – you’ll at least be you, and that ought to be good enough.