How to style a Belstaff panther jacket

[Theguyoverhere]

I’m a new forum member and I apologise if this has been covered before.

I’ve recently acquired two new Belstaff panther jackets for my collection. One is olive colour and the other is black.

Curious what’s your thoughts on how to style the jacket?

Right now I’ve been pairing it with my Edwin dark denim and Oliver Sweeney boots and haven’t gone too far beyond this.

What would you guys suggest for a successful look?

 

[Will Zach]

We are big on pics around here, so if you are comfortable posting pics , do so. It is helpful. You can obscure your face if you want. Googling Belstaff Panther, I think a cool look would be an English country look. I have no idea how to accomplish it, but others might have some (maybe different) ideas. @Edward ?

 

[Yango]

Someone from Brummell Magazine posted 5 ways to wear the Belstaff Panther.

 

[Edward]

Photos above are certainly how you'll see these worn in contemporary fashion. If you want a vintage look, I think there are a couple of key options.


The English Rocker - denim jeans tucked into a slim, black leather motorcycled boot, with cream boot socks pulled up and tucked over the top. The whole Ace Cafe / 59 Club look.

Not the coolest of all the rockers necessarily, but you'll find other photos if you look. Contrary to the image the revivalist scene paints, not everyone on that scene wore Lewis- or even leather. The Belstaff style jacket wasn't as common as shorter leather jackets on that scene, though it was more often wax cotton when it did show up (I'm guessing those were more affordable - even Lewis back then did a PVC jacket called the Bomber for less well off riders).

The leather ones did show up here and there, though. You'll see a range of options under the jacket; the rocker archetype was a cream or white rollneck, RN style, sometimes a white silk scarf. And the boots as mentioned - see the guy on the right of this photo as pictured.

This rocker look dates in origin to the late 50s; as a subculture its heyday would have been 1960 to 64. This would favour the black jacket.

The other option - a good one for the earthtoned-olive - is to lean into the Gentleman motorcyclist look of the pre-1940 era. It's a look I've considered for Goodwood Revival on wet days. For me it would be a collar and tie - soft collar cotton shirt, under a V-neck, possibly fairisle style... cropped, not long, fairly slim fitting. On the bottom half for a motorcyclist look, I'd be looking at something like these:

Soldier of Fortune repro MC Despatch rider battledress trousers. Wear 'em will tall boots, or lower boots with separate gaiters in canvas or leather. Brown better with this for an accurate period look, rather than black (though the military would have worn black boots as memory serves, brown would make more sense for a civlian look). Silvermans do a nice pair of leather jodhpur's in brown or black, but they can be a bit much if you're wary of leather strides and not riding.

For a more dismounted look, switch out the riding trews for something countrified - corduroys and a pair of stout brogues would be a good go to. Essentially a regular country style outfit, but with the Belstaff in place of a tweed blazer.

I've not seen any evidence that suggests back when this was a commonly worn style away from a motorcycle, but of course (if you care about period accuracy) I'm sure folks who owned them then were as likely to wear them off the bike if the weather and occasion called for it...

I'm not particularly aware of contemporary fashion, but if that's what you want the Belstaff promo images look more or less like how I'd expect to see these worn by the average buyer today.