November 22nd, 2022

Leather jackets, a jacket used by bikers and fashion enthusiasts alike, have survived quite a long time for good reason. Before leather jackets became a part of fashion, they were first used for utilitarian purposes. Leather was obtained from animal skins and used as an insulating layer to keep Indigenous peoples, fur traders, and hunters warm against the harsh and frigid temperatures. Then as the years went on the jacket turned from necessity to pleasure, society taking notice and coveting this garment. Leather jackets have evolved over the course of history, their story spanning over centuries. 

The Inuit, a group of Indigenous peoples situated in the northern parts of Canada, were the first to use caribou and sealskin clothing to survive the cold summers and even colder winters. Caribou skin was used the most due to the caribou hair being hollow and trapping heat against the body; it also made the wearer more buoyant in water. The caribou skins were never chemically tanned but worked into softness; special tools like a crescent shaped blade called an ulu, and thread made from the sinew of the caribou were all used to make the leather clothing. The caribou skin clothing was worn in two layers; the attigi, the first layer with the caribou hair facing inwards towards the body, and the qulittaq, the second layer with the caribou facing outwards toward the environment.

Inuit Leather Clothing, Photo from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit_clothing 

 

Over the centuries, the speciality of turning animal hides into leather clothing became less popular, the advancement of technology and industry allowing for other fabrics to insulate almost as well as animal skins; this made leather clothing wane out of fashion, or that was until the World Wars. Leather jackets were first worn by German and American fighter pilots in World War l due to cockpits on fighter planes being open-aired and uninsulated, the jacket coming to be called the aviator jacket. Then in World War ll fighter pilots of many countries wore a modified version of the aviator jacket called the bomber jacket. Bomber leather jackets were lined with sheepskin and became a part of the military uniform for fighter pilots who had to experience extreme cold at high altitudes, again showing how leather was used for insulating. 

Fighter Pilot in Bomber Jacket, Photo from https://www.michaelandrews.com/journal/the-history-of-the-bomber-jacket 

 

The first leather jacket that was brought into the fashion world was designed by Irvin Schott in 1928, a brown biker jacket designed for men that used a zipper for the closure instead of buttons which were used at the time. The jacket was double breasted and asymmetrical as to allow motorcyclists to lean over their motorcycles without feeling restricted. The jacket was sold for $5.50 and was called Perfecto after Schotts favorite cigar brand. 

Schott’s 1928 Perfecto Leather Jacket, Photo from https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303848104579308542914390198

 

The leather jacket quickly gained focus and many started to collect this piece of clothing. In the 1950’s and 1960’s the popularity of leather jackets skyrocketed when Hollywood started dressing their actors playing rebellious male characters in leather jackets, the first appearing on Marlon Brando in The Wild One in 1953 then again in Rebel without a Cause in 1955 worn by James Dean. Because of the characters that wore leather jackets on the movie screens, leather jackets gained its “bad boy” persona and were quickly picked up by rock stars like Steve McQueen and The Beatles. Leather jackets soon became synonymous with rock and roll as the music became popular in the 1970’s and 1980’s, female rock artists like Joan Jett and Blondie bringing this garment from men’s to women’s fashion. 

Joan Jett in her Leather Jacket, Photo from https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/442056519673443390/ 

Nowadays leather jackets are just as popular as when they were first brought into the fashion industry in the 1920’s. Leather jackets are now less of a runway showstopper and are more an everyday clothing piece, the style going from edgy and grunge by being heavily studded and pinned to vibrantly coloured, contemporary jackets with minimalist designs. Leather jackets have gone from utilitarian to high fashion over the course of history, the practice of turning animal skins into clothing changing as time goes on. 

 

By Caite Racicot

Categories: Fashion