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The ladies/teen mall jacket this season is . . .

Harris HTM

One Too Many
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hmm, here in the Netherlands this started last year. Virtually every trend shop (such as zara) sold a crappy version of ma-1. If you just walk around you see so many ladies, and many trendy guys, wearing a cheap copy of a ma-1 which looks really-really awful. On the other hand I'm glad these people don't wear Alpha's or so, then I would have to throw away mine.
 

OceanBreeze

One of the Regulars
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123
Location
Los Angeles
Last season every ladies and/or teen oriented store in the mall had a version of a vinyl/pleather/leather Perfecto jacket. This season, the favored jacket for ladies and teens is a nylon MA-1. Of course, they are available in many non-standard colors, including various shades of pink. I walked the mall with my wife, daughter and dog this afternoon (I hung with the dog). We saw dozens of MA-1s in many different stores. The typical quality is shockingly bad. My daughter picked out a pink MA-1 that probably will not survive five outtings. Disposable clothing brands have taken over the malls.

Interesting how mainstream/cheap/disposable brands resurrect vintage styles. Also interesting how ladies brands borrow from men's vintage styles. My guess is that MA-1s will be a single season fad.

Yes, unfortunately "fast disposable fashion" is the trend now. I'm buying nearly all of my clothing online nowadays to get high quality goods that last a long time.
 

Edgar Laurel

One of the Regulars
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289
Location
Porto, Portugal
The M-1 inspired jackets are all over the place, for men and women alike.
All very flimsy and hill constructed of course. Made to last till next spring.
 

PeterGunnLives

One of the Regulars
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223
Location
West Coast
When I was in high school in the nineties, MA-1 type jackets were popular with the alt rock and punk crowds. Some kids would treat them as reversible so that the bright orange part would be on the outside.

Places like Forever 21 and H&M have a lot of "fast fashion" items, which are trendy, pretty affordable in price, and not meant to last long. But for those who like to stay at the forward edge of fashion, they will be changing them soon anyway. So, whatever floats your boat...
 

Justhandguns

Practically Family
Messages
780
Location
London
Fashion comes and go..... and comes back again. It is always a cycle of around 10-15years when designers run out of ideas every now and then. I was quite surprised that the Tanker jacket did not become mainstream after Brad Pitts' Fury movie though. Some are suggesting denim/chore jackets are making a come back to replace leather, let's wait and see.

I'd say Souveneir jackets have replaced the MA-1 as the trend.

Looks like the Souvenir or trophy jackets are not taking off in Europe, yet, I guess not everyone can 'carry' this kind of fashion like the Japanese do. The shorter season of autumn certainly does not help either.
 

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,252
Location
Hudson Valley, NY
I have to agree with everyone who's pointed out that it's M-43/M-65 field jacket-inspired jackets - some sort of green cotton-ish fabric, usually with four flapped pockets, epaulets, inner drawstring, sometimes zipped and sometimes buttoned, etc. - which have been ubiquitous girl and lady garments for several years now. Like the trench coat, which always seems to be in wider use among women than men, the "green army jacket" is seen everywhere nowadays, in all kinds of variations and price points.

Of course, we here know all about how classic military styles may wax and wane with fashion, but are perennials that endure for good reasons. But I just find it a bit weird that field jackets, pea coats, trenches, and "bombers" are generally worn way more by women than men... (other than the likes of us!)
 

Doctor Damage

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Ontario
Monitor said:
Most insulting are the t-shirts with the 80's metal band logos and stuff, tho...
Oh ffkk don't get me started. I was getting the car filled up a couple weeks ago at the gas station (full serve) and the cute high school girl who works there had on an AC/DC shirt. I said I was pleased to see she was a fan, whereupon she answered "I don't know, someone just gave me the shirt".
 

Doctor Damage

I'll Lock Up
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4,324
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Ontario
Please post the best pics of these ladies that the internet has to offer
hol_143634_02_model1.jpg
 

Harris HTM

One Too Many
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Oh ffkk don't get me started. I was getting the car filled up a couple weeks ago at the gas station (full serve) and the cute high school girl who works there had on an AC/DC shirt. I said I was pleased to see she was a fan, whereupon she answered "I don't know, someone just gave me the shirt".

I have seen so many girls with Motorhead - Ramones - Maiden t-shirts... bands of which they have no idea - they just saw the t-shirt on the mall and thought it was cool (strange enough when I wore the same shirts 25 years ago girls looked at me as if I were a freak).
 

Doctor Damage

I'll Lock Up
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Ontario
I have seen so many girls with Motorhead - Ramones - Maiden t-shirts... bands of which they have no idea - they just saw the t-shirt on the mall and thought it was cool (strange enough when I wore the same shirts 25 years ago girls looked at me as if I were a freak).
You know your society's culture is doomed when the younger generations, who should be learning about it and embracing it and valuing it, see it as nothing more than a disposable fashion trend or something for hipsters to pose in. I'm glad you mentioned Maiden... holy carp, I bet those kids wearing Eddie T-shirts have never read any Maiden lyrics... "war? what's war? why would someone write a song about it?"
 

Harris HTM

One Too Many
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You know your society's culture is doomed when the younger generations, who should be learning about it and embracing it and valuing it, see it as nothing more than a disposable fashion trend or something for hipsters to pose in. I'm glad you mentioned Maiden... holy carp, I bet those kids wearing Eddie T-shirts have never read any Maiden lyrics... "war? what's war? why would someone write a song about it?"

Well, the same thing happens with younger generations even within the same genre. I remember 3 years I go I attended the Graspop festival and when Maiden played Seventh Son (dude, I almost cried), I was probably the only one going nuts and singing over the lyrics!
 

Edward

Bartender
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25,081
Location
London, UK
You can thank Kanye for that... SMH

Ha! I'd forgotten about his stuff until I saw somebody wearing one of his tour jackets from the other year - it was basically a very standard (if, clearly, deliberately over-large) MA1 with his "Yeezus" logo on the back, and a conferderate battle flag on the arm. These have been around for a couple of years, though - I remember the minor furore over his use of said flag hitting the press a couple of years ago (and gaining the no-doubt hoped for publicity as a result).

For men it seems to be the M-65!
Old Navy
Hollister
Topman
H&M
All carry their version for about $110.

Back when I wandered around the Abercrombie & Fitch children's store on Savile Row (as part of the Chap Magazine's organised protest against the same in 2014), they had very tiny versions of these, which I dubbed the Child Soldier Collection. Did seem a bit odd to be looking at dressing a six year old in military gear, but then I guess it's not so long since I bought my nephew a flying-style jacket that was aping an Irvin, so....

The disposable fashion cycle has caught on to the vintage/heritage/military trend and is working it's way through all the 'iconic' pieces. From the white wedge sole on boots, all the way up to some of the really top designers making sheepskin jackets with loose nods to flight gear.
At the moment it is indeed the MA-1/Perfecto/Trucker triumvirate that is ruling the day. This will soon pass and we can have our jackets back.

Pretty much. I used to get bothered by fashion stealing my clothes (on the rare occasion it happens), but now, meh. If anything, it amuses me that the fashion set might see bald, fat, middle-aged me in it and go off it all the quicker. Sometimes meansthere are decent versions to be had cheap in the sales, too....

Ralph Lauren has a "Denim & Supply" line of clothing that has lots of neo-vintage style clothes and military styles. Their MA-1 with vintage flag is actually pretty nice (I tried it on at Macy's). View attachment 57597

They do some nice stuff. They had a pretty nice run of A2 types a couple of years ago, as I recall. Tankers more recently too. Silly money, but if they have a sale it could be a bargain.

I'd say Souveneir jackets have replaced the MA-1 as the trend.

I've seen a fair few of those around as well -some really nice ones. Interestingly, Alpha have not long released a "Souvenir MA1", which has the look of one of those, with a hint of varsity jacket, but presumably the colder-weather MA1 construction - http://www.alphaindustries.com/mens...ustries-ma-1-souvenir-eagle-flight-jacket.htm , http://www.alphaindustries.com/mens...stries-ma-1-souvenir-shinto-flight-jacket.htm. Quite impressed by those, actually.

When I was in high school in the nineties, MA-1 type jackets were popular with the alt rock and punk crowds. Some kids would treat them as reversible so that the bright orange part would be on the outside.

Over here they later became abit more tainted with the "far right skinhead" stereotype, but I had friends who were alts, punks, and goths (goths only ever bought the black ones, of course) buying 'em cheap from surplus stores for years - typically there yer choice was green or black, all with the orange liner. I think most of them were milspec alphas, too. Around £30 in those days.... (while original M65s were £15. If only we'd known....).

I also remember a brief fashion around 1989 /1990 for girls to wear cheap versions of the MA1, always black, with printed images of a favoured pop star on them - the ones I remember, which dates it, being Bros and Kylie Minogue.

Fashion comes and go..... and comes back again. It is always a cycle of around 10-15years when designers run out of ideas every now and then. I was quite surprised that the Tanker jacket did not become mainstream after Brad Pitts' Fury movie though. Some are suggesting denim/chore jackets are making a come back to replace leather, let's wait and see.

Tankers definitely got easier to find across the cheaper end of the repop market, the earlier, patch-pocket version in particular, but yeah, they didn't hit the mainstream.

Looks like the Souvenir or trophy jackets are not taking off in Europe, yet, I guess not everyone can 'carry' this kind of fashion like the Japanese do. The shorter season of autumn certainly does not help either.[/QUOTE]

I have to agree with everyone who's pointed out that it's M-43/M-65 field jacket-inspired jackets - some sort of green cotton-ish fabric, usually with four flapped pockets, epaulets, inner drawstring, sometimes zipped and sometimes buttoned, etc. - which have been ubiquitous girl and lady garments for several years now. Like the trench coat, which always seems to be in wider use among women than men, the "green army jacket" is seen everywhere nowadays, in all kinds of variations and price points.

I suspect the ubiquity with women more than men is perhaps because it doesn't have the same macho connotations there. A lot of guys shy away from the military stuff because they don't want to be a Walter Mitty type, or don't want to project the "wannabe hardman" image. There's a certain stereotype of guys being "too into" military clothing that doesn't seem to have any female parallel.

The ones that look odd to me are the current longer jackets I see, mostly being worn in London by obviously very fashion-forward types. Looks like an MA1 in every respect, but instead of pulling in to a kint at the waist, it extends to a normal hem at about N3B length:

European-style-new-2016-winters-font-b-MA1-b-font-font-b-flight-b-font-font.jpg


3d5d9741a254da5778974a82fe4118bb.jpg


Not for me, but interesting.... I can imagine they're well warm.
 

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