LUFTWAFFE jackets - Eagles who Dare to Wear..!

[rocketeer]

Have had my ELC Luftwaffe / French cyclist jacket for a few years, quite an investment to start with but it still looks great & gets loads of wear..thus the cost to me was worth it. I tried cheaper versions prior to my ELC but moved them on because they didn't look or feel right to me.

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I think Eastman make all their German styles in black or brown.
I ordered one of these about 18 years ago. No pleats in back and zips in the slash pockets as it looked very much like an old style British bike jacket from the 60s. Now of course we have Lewis back in town but to be honest, this looks better made. Apart from being a little 'off the shoulder' it is fine but I wont wear it on the Hayabusa.

 

[Capesofwrath]

I think Eastman make all their German styles in black or brown.
I ordered one of these about 18 years ago. No pleats in back and zips in the slash pockets as it looked very much like an old style British bike jacket from the 60s. Now of course we have Lewis back in town but to be honest, this looks better made. Apart from being a little 'off the shoulder' it is fine but I wont wear it on the Hayabusa.

Of course it's well known that most of the jackets used on the Battle of Britain film were LL ones. LL's website say's this one is a Dominator style without the chest zips. I had a Corsair many years ago and it was similar to this.

 

[Capesofwrath]

I think Eastman make all their German styles in black or brown.
I ordered one of these about 18 years ago. No pleats in back and zips in the slash pockets as it looked very much like an old style British bike jacket from the 60s. Now of course we have Lewis back in town but to be honest, this looks better made. Apart from being a little 'off the shoulder' it is fine but I wont wear it on the Hayabusa.

About thirty years ago I bought a similar jacket which had been used in a film. It was The Eagle Has Landed I think. It had the Luftwaffe wings and swastika still sewn on the chest. I wasn't planning to wear it like that but I did take a stroll out of the house with it on. I lived up towards the Bull and Bush on North End Road at the time so didn't go too far down the hill....

Even after I took the insignia off the outline of sewing holes was still there if you looked closely. It wasn't a bad jacket, but like most film jackets it was made of fairly light hide. It was altered and used by my partner as her bike commute jacket after and it's still knocking about.

 

[AustinTX]

I just read this thread through (all 30 pages!) and there was no answer to a query made right at the outset: were the Luftwaffe jackets all or mostly in black? Did the powers that be say to the pilots: "sure, buy your own jacket, spend as much as you like --- just so long as it's black!"? Or were they relaxed even about the colour? Also what colours were the regulation shirt and tie? Or were they allowed even their own ties?

You did, however, get some rather interesting digressions on the element of homoeroticism in German wartime photography (not that there's anything wrong with that).

While we're at it, does anyone have any experience with leathercult.com? Looking around online there are some pretty caustic comments from unsatisfied customers.

 

[Edward]

Based on the photos I've seen of (documented) originals in the past, it seems that brown was at least as common as black; personally, I'd put the notion that they were all black down to Hollywood artistic licence (as with so many misconceptions about WW2).

 

[devilish]

Bad Guys always wear black leather. It's a Hollywood rule and it goes double for 'Ze Germans'.

 

[AustinTX]

Doesn't look too promising, tbh, but as Carlos said you get what you pay for. If you can stretch a bit, ELC and Pegasus both make very nice models, though they will set you something like seven leather cults! Nobel House will do you something that is a bit better for not much more: http://www.noble-house.eu/catalog/p...ducts_id/32?osCsid=0n412052e30rguu25vppas1ec4, though they've not had fantastic reviews on the Lounge.

This from Noble House:

"Most of the time, they were cheap made copies from the Far East, made of low quality, and they were also dissapointing since they were not made with a "love" for the dfdetails.
Our jacket is different!"

They say that the Devil is in the dfdetails....

 

[Edward]

Bad Guys always wear black leather. It's a Hollywood rule and it goes double for 'Ze Germans'.

Das ist richtig.

 

[armscye]

"With their mania for black leather, brass buttons, medals, and armbands, the Nazis proved as bold in their fashions as they were brutal on the battlefield. The German uniform style during the Nazi period was so eccentric that the American novelist Kurt Vonnegut (1922–) called it "madly theatrical."

Read more: http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/...World-1930-1945/Nazi-Style.html#ixzz38OZZR4Tm

 

[Big J]

"With their mania for black leather, brass buttons, medals, and armbands, the Nazis proved as bold in their fashions as they were brutal on the battlefield. The German uniform style during the Nazi period was so eccentric that the American novelist Kurt Vonnegut (1922–) called it "madly theatrical."

Read more: http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/...World-1930-1945/Nazi-Style.html#ixzz38OZZR4Tm

From the linked article;

'the swastika, has remained off limits to fashion's reinterpretation and reuse, for it is too closely associated with the darker side of Nazi rule'.

The 'darker side'? Is there a 'lighter side' of Nazi rule?:shocked:

 

[tropicalbob]

Yes, but as P.J. O'Rourke once wrote, "Nobody ever paid a liberal to tie him or her to a bed."

 

[AustinTX]

From the linked article;

'the swastika, has remained off limits to fashion's reinterpretation and reuse, for it is too closely associated with the darker side of Nazi rule'.

The 'darker side'? Is there a 'lighter side' of Nazi rule?:shocked:

Yes, you can see the documentary title now: "Nazi Europe 1939-1945: The Lighter Side!" The mind boggles at what the content of that film would be....

 

[Big J]

Yes, you can see the documentary title now: "Nazi Europe 1939-1945: The Lighter Side!" The mind boggles at what the content of that film would be....

LOLZ!

The article should have just said;
'the swastika, has remained off limits to fashion's reinterpretation and reuse, for it is associated with Nazi rule'.

 

[armscye]

Lighter side indeed.

The joke is that Hitler might have escaped to Argentina, and a few years later been asked by the other Nazi expats to lead a new Fourth Reich. He would then have replied, "yes, but on one condition: no more Mr. nice guy..."

 

[Trenchfriend]

Fantastic thread, too!

 

[Edward]

From the linked article;

'the swastika, has remained off limits to fashion's reinterpretation and reuse, for it is too closely associated with the darker side of Nazi rule'.

The 'darker side'? Is there a 'lighter side' of Nazi rule?:shocked:

 

[rocketeer]

From the linked article;

'the swastika, has remained off limits to fashion's reinterpretation and reuse, for it is too closely associated with the darker side of Nazi rule'.

The 'darker side'? Is there a 'lighter side' of Nazi rule?:shocked:

If there is one thing the Nazi's did that the whole world embraces it is the Olympic torch run

Lighter side indeed.

The joke is that Hitler might have escaped to Argentina, and a few years later been asked by the other Nazi expats to lead a new Fourth Reich. He would then have replied, "yes, but on one condition: no more Mr. nice guy..."

You need to watch the film, Nazi's at the Centre of the Earth. Hitler was taken to Antartica and formed a secret underground headquarters for the future Reich. On an expedition on the southern most continent, a group of American teenage scientists discover the Fuhrer's lair. What they find will terrify you!

 

[rocketeer]

Has anyone noticed that Eastman's Luftwaffe jacket has been re labeled as Ostermann. Same jacket as the old standard, not the Hartman.

http://www.eastmanleather.com/ostmann-wwii-german-flying-jacket-black-horsehide-p-154.html

 

[Edward]

If there is one thing the Nazi's did that the whole world embraces it is the Olympic torch run

Ha, yes.... I'd forgotten about that. The Olympics really did suit their sense of spectacle. And, credit where it's due, albeit for dubious reasons, they still let Jesse Owens compete on the same field as his white contemporaries, which not everywhere else would have done at the time. Yeah, it was cause they thought the Aryan supermen could beat him, which really makes it all the greater that he had the chance to prove them so very wrong!

You need to watch the film, Nazi's at the Centre of the Earth. Hitler was taken to Antartica and formed a secret underground headquarters for the future Reich. On an expedition on the southern most continent, a group of American teenage scientists discover the Fuhrer's lair. What they find will terrify you!

Is that the new one from the same team as Iron Sky?

Has anyone noticed that Eastman's Luftwaffe jacket has been re labeled as Ostermann. Same jacket as the old standard, not the Hartman.

http://www.eastmanleather.com/ostmann-wwii-german-flying-jacket-black-horsehide-p-154.html

Hadn't spotted that, no. Presumably it's a marketing thing, as I have heard people here and there over the years say they liked the jacket, but wouldn't wear one with the label Luftwaffe. (Mostly folks outside Germany, of course, given that Luftwaffe is simply the German generic term for "Air Force", and has been in use since (West) Germany was allowed an air force again post WW2, from, if memory serves, 1956.

 

[HPA Rep]

Hadn't spotted that, no. Presumably it's a marketing thing, as I have heard people here and there over the years say they liked the jacket, but wouldn't wear one with the label Luftwaffe. (Mostly folks outside Germany, of course, given that Luftwaffe is simply the German generic term for "Air Force", and has been in use since (West) Germany was allowed an air force again post WW2, from, if memory serves, 1956.

You are correct, Edward, and we have heard similar over the years about the name and the eagle. It's a good jacket style that always did have a place in the offerings, but it seems the younger the market gets, the more bothered they are with this sort of thing. This is based solely on what we've heard from potential buyers, which is surprising to the extent that a younger audience (maybe one so young they can't afford the jacket quite yet) often comes up fully in the dark about most anything from WWII, and "Luftwaffe" and its related eagle would likely not even register with them. But once they read the website content and get what the jacket represents, then they may not want something that is related to the era of the Third Reich.

Beyond this speculation, it was indeed a marketing move that was founded on information and a belief more would sell if the label changed. Sales certainly were better for this style in past years than the present, which could have nothing to do with the label, but ELC and HPA think it well could.