The biker jacket owes its origins to its role as a
functional work wear garment for world war 1 fighter pilots, the jackets were
typically made from sheep, goat or cow hide from left over skin from the meat
industries - owing to the work wear needing to be as cost efficient as
possible. Padded at the shoulders and elbows, these jackets served as armour
for the rider in case they were dismounted, to this day both functional and non-functional
fashion orientated biker jackets retain the hallmark dynamic of the original
work wear garment.
Some of the same fighter pilots
once discharged from service undertaking lives as normal civilians, would once
again don their government issued hides but not as servicemen – as bikers. Some
being categorised as the 1 percenter outlaws and thus creating the iconic
symbol of rebellion we are all so familiar with in this modern day and age.
Marlon Brando in the 1953 hit
movie “The Wild One” reinforced the image and solidified the persona of the
jacket as the rebel’s choice and the most iconic and distinct way to make such
a bold statement – the jacket was now the heart of the symbol social freedom,
and why wouldn’t it? A youth on a bike cruising along a long stretch of road
with seemingly no troubles on their mind paints quite the picture of carpe diem,
speed, adventure and liberty.
Mildred “What are’ya rebelling
against Johnny?
Marlon Brando “Whaddya got?”
The early leather motorcycle
jackets, were a very popular brown goatskin style with short styling, fitted
waist – to enable the rider to lean over his bike without the jacket crumpling
at getting in the way. Many of these jackets imitated the style of
the A-1 Bomber Jackets used by the Army Air Corp prior to WWII, these early
jackets, were aviator or military style jackets with a short mandarin style
collar and button front closure.
The jacket saw itself enter many avenues under the same
banner of rebellion such as comic books, film and music, in the 50’s it
fashioned itself into the world of rock, it was evident that the spirit of
rebellion was to strike well within various subcultures in both the UK and USA
alike:
1950’s era Rockers
typically donned the biker jacket as part of the dress code of this sub culture
Sid Vicious, a 1970’s
era notorious and popular Punk Rocker, who’s life of sex, drugs and rock and
roll helped carry the character profile of the jacket.
From the 50’s rock and roll era, the 70’s Punk Rock era
emerged, a new generation of youths would now don the same robes of the spirit
of rebellion that was ploughing through society. Freshly introduced to the
biker jacket as its iconic symbol of freedom and not as the work wear jacket
the previous generation would’ve initially known it as, this would now aid the
jacket’s perception and role as the wings for those seeking and outward medium
to showcase their attitude and disdain for laws and restrictions.
What is interesting to note is
how a fashion got carried through from one generation to another and survived –
many styles of fashion do not last that long at all, the biker jackets power
had seen it through from 1920’s functional wear to 1970’s fashion and it was
still going strong.
The jacket would see itself going
from strength to strength and saw itself spilling from sub cultures existing on
the fringes of mainstream society (owing to their disdain for the mainstream
and taking a proud stand of independence clad in their black flag biker jacket)
to the mainstream fashion folk and pop stars – one such instance being Michael
Jackson:
In the 1980’s Michael Jackson would
undertake the biker jacket in two of arguably his most free spirited songs, “Beat
it” and “Bad” would display the king of pop in two distinct biker jackets –
coincidence they picked such a jacket for a song to showcase youthful nonconformist
spirit? Of course not, this jacket had thus proved itself once again being
carried into the new generation of the original World War 1 free spirits taking
to the air during wartime.
Other songs that would more
directly involve the jacket and its past would be “Speed Demon” in which Michael
plays a biker aiming to escape his troubles and those wishing to curb his privacy
– namely the paparazzi.
And not to mention the hit “Thriller:”
Thus the jacket saw itself transform into a mainstream fashion
item and slowly moved away from its perhaps intimidating past, the movements
and cultures associated with it slowly fizzled its dominance out of society and
those of all walks of life started to wear the jacket irrespective of its past
role – albeit the jacket’s aura still maintaining it’s recognisable past but in
a much more mild persuasion.
Nowadays it is common to find them on the walkways rather
than mischievous and perhaps criminalistics youths but not shed of it’s rebel
symbology, in fact it is this very reason the jacket seems to be attractive to
this very day – nearly a hundred years from its inception, the jacket has gone
from strength to strength and finds itself in everyone’s wardrobe in one form
or another, cladding it’s wearer as a free spirit with style:
http://suichaboh.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/studded-leather-biker-jacket_08.html
The Oxford Blue W113 and W111 Men's and Ladies Biker respectively are our homage to the legacy of such an influential item of apparel that the likes of which will probably never be rivalled, our jackets is a high quality garment with contemporary design. Made from 100% cotton Japara outer and 100% cotton check lining, it looks both luxurious and modern. Features include: storm flap with stud fasteners, 100% cotton corduroy collar, multi-pocketed and adjustable throat tab.
We also have in our range a W69 Men's Jecko Biker Jacket (shown last)
W69 Jecko Biker
