Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Which high quality leather jackets does the ladies wear?

red devil

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,946
Location
London
Thats cool that she is involved in your leather fetish. My wife used to ride with me all the time and then we had a huge scare on the south Florida interstate and now she won’t get on the bike with me. I miss riding with her but I understand. A near death experience can alter a point of view. It happened right before she got pregnant with our maniac boy too. I think she thinks that if she owns a Vanson or whatever, I will make her get on the bike again.

Yeah... that would shake everyone.

She is not as passionate as we are, but she likes nice jackets :)
 

56DeSoto

Familiar Face
Messages
67
I'm new on the board here, but I've learned a lot from this forum in my hunt for jackets. I've picked up a couple women's Vansons. One is a vintage cafe racer that feels that is heavy and tough, but probably not a good choice for anyone looking for easy comfort. I'm still debating if it will work for me, but there's a lot to love. I also picked up a more recent Perfecto-style women's Vanson that sadly doesn't fit me. It's heavy, but seems like it would work well for either fashion or riding. So I guess I'm on the Vanson bandwagon for women's jackets even if I might still be searching!
 

jonesy86

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,610
Location
Kauai
I'm new on the board here, but I've learned a lot from this forum in my hunt for jackets. I've picked up a couple women's Vansons. One is a vintage cafe racer that feels that is heavy and tough, but probably not a good choice for anyone looking for easy comfort. I'm still debating if it will work for me, but there's a lot to love. I also picked up a more recent Perfecto-style women's Vanson that sadly doesn't fit me. It's heavy, but seems like it would work well for either fashion or riding. So I guess I'm on the Vanson bandwagon for women's jackets even if I might still be searching!
Welcome to TFL. Got any pics?
 

56DeSoto

Familiar Face
Messages
67
Here are my Vansons. Keeping the cafe racer for now. Does this forum do fit checks? I'm into the raw denim world and we do fit checks all the time.
vanson1.jpg
vansoncaferacer.jpg


Welcome to TFL. Got any pics?
 

56DeSoto

Familiar Face
Messages
67
Yeah, many people post fit pics. Both those Vansons look pretty nice, too bad the cross zip doesn't fit.
The cross zip is drop dead gorgeous, definitely bummed it's too big for me. I had been looking around for a Schott or something similar, and I'm still keeping an eye out.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,066
Location
London, UK
View attachment 309900

This looks like a nice jacket.

Rare birdy. That's the original Monza. Lewis now only make the 1978-launched Super Monza (cut longer to suit the racing bike style which became popular from that era, buckles moved to the rear), the Monza standard model has been showing up on their website as "not available" for years now.

Lewis make a lot of ladies' jackets. In the motorcycling world, you'll find a lot of very decent jackets made for ladies; it's been common really since the sixties onwards. The female form varies much more than does the male, so it's definitely more of a challenge to get it 'right', particularly if going stock sizing. Also worth remembering that in terms of leather jackets as fashion wear or workwear (as distinct from the motor-cycle specific options from the sixties onwards), the sort of stuff produced by the likes of Aero, from the pre-1950 period... The original leather jackets of that period were much more commonly aimed at men. Not to say that ladies jackets didn't exist, but they certainly weren't as common. Then you have to take into account the imagery, the movies from (or set in) those periods that have influenced vintage fashion as well.... So not only is it harder to reengineer the design techniques of the past which were so much more often created around the male form, but there's just not the same demand for them either. Plenty of guys want to be Marlon Brando or Steve Macqueen; what female equivalents are there?

The point is also made above that ladies tend not to have the same anally-retentive interests in the actual leather as we do. If it's not specifically protective wear for motorcycling, they'll be much happier with lamb than many of us (I personally wouldn't even consider a lamb jacket because I know I'd rip it within the first few days). Most women I've known who have a leather jacket they love picked it up use somewhere, or in a shop where they could try on several styles and find what suited their own form the best; very different than what we tend to do here. I've promised my other half an Aero once she's ready for it (she wants to wait for a bit til she loses a little weight she put on during a prolonged period of illness). She likes the simplicity of a cafe racer style. She'll probably end up opting for goat, as she feels the heat very quickly in anything heavy (she hasn't worn a real Winter coat in years). Black is of course the only colour for her - there's no such thing as an ex-goth!

Don't know where OP is located, but I would suggest getting some idea of styles she's into, try and visit somewhere like Thurston or Lewis or Aero where she can try on a lot of different styles, cuts, see what she likes and what will suit her physically.
 

56DeSoto

Familiar Face
Messages
67
That Lewis jacket is fantastic. Love that style. This is an interesting topic of discussion. I'm into the jackets everyone loves on here for the same reasons I got into the male-dominated clothing realm of raw denim. I was frustrated with the durability and quality of "fashion" for women. I had a lambskin cross-zip that looked great for a little while, but didn't hold up at all. So now I've got a vintage Vanson cafe racer and it feels like wearing armor. Still on the hunt for a suitable cross-zip to complete the jacket selection.

It's a much harder hunt for jeans and jackets for women. A good fit is hard to find and the options are more limited. I've been taking some swipes at eBay offerings and mostly striking out due to fit issues. I was considering the custom route, but between the cost and the fear of messing up the measurements, I haven't seriously explored that. But I think there's something to be said for the low-key adventure of hunting around and looking for something that will work. I just have to be more careful to make sure I buy from sellers that accept returns for when the fit doesn't work.

The original leather jackets of that period were much more commonly aimed at men. Not to say that ladies jackets didn't exist, but they certainly weren't as common. Then you have to take into account the imagery, the movies from (or set in) those periods that have influenced vintage fashion as well.... So not only is it harder to reengineer the design techniques of the past which were so much more often created around the male form, but there's just not the same demand for them either. Plenty of guys want to be Marlon Brando or Steve Macqueen; what female equivalents are there?

The point is also made above that ladies tend not to have the same anally-retentive interests in the actual leather as we do. If it's not specifically protective wear for motorcycling, they'll be much happier with lamb than many of us (I personally wouldn't even consider a lamb jacket because I know I'd rip it within the first few days). Most women I've known who have a leather jacket they love picked it up use somewhere, or in a shop where they could try on several styles and find what suited their own form the best; very different than what we tend to do here.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
108,997
Messages
3,072,385
Members
54,038
Latest member
GloriaJama
Top