Why all the hatred towards black leather jackets?

[The Good]

I don't own a leather jacket... yet, but I will say that I prefer the brown colors to black. Black is, in my experience, the most common leather jacket color around where I live, and it has come to (unfortunately) represent people who are "trying too hard," like some punk rockers or metalheads, and even goths.

 

[Smithy]

There's no hatred whatsoever. Just have a look in this Outerwear section at the number of threads devoted to (and the number of people who like) black leather jackets such as the Luftwaffe flying jackets, U-Boat and Dr Who coats, black half belts, etc, etc.

Brown leather jackets may possibly be more popular here than black ones but it's a bit of an overreaction to call it hatred.

 

[Mad w/o power]

I think its an age thing; black gets harder to pull off as you get older and well, larger. Black says rebellion and brown says I have to be in bed by nine, or my wife will scold me. Hahaha.

 

[injunjack]

well, I have nowadays 9 Black leather jackets. (well, I admit that's a bit too many) But, there will be only black in my rack

Jack

 

[Navin323i]

Good morning, Gents.

I haven't noticed any hatred towards black leather jackets on here, nor should there be any. There are a number of good reasons why some of us including myself prefer wearing black jackets including:

1) Black is great in terms of "slimming" characteristics... with the issues I have with my abdominal hernia bulge in my tummy area I can use the help that black colors provide.

2) Wearing black ensures compatibility with other clothing pieces of any other color... therefore it's easier for me to color-coordinate my black leather jackets with the other clothes I wear of different colors or the same color.

3) I get to color-coordinate my leather jacket with my hair color (haha, sorry... couldn't resist this one).

I do have one brown leather jacket though (hip length car coat) and I'm looking into having a company in India make me a red leather jacket (I love the color red plus I'm hooked on red leather jackets after watching "Fight Club").

 

[Navin323i]

I think its an age thing; black gets harder to pull off as you get older and well, larger. Black says rebellion and brown says I have to be in bed by nine, or my wife will scold me. Hahaha.

lol Great post! I guess you'll be seeing me then in a black jacket even when I'm in my senior citizen years.

 

[Yeps]

I have one black leather jacket at the moment (I was given it by my godfather when he got himself kicked out of a casino in Vegas for winning too much at blackjack), and honestly, at the moment, my wardrobe does not support any leather jackets, but if I were to buy and wear one on a regular basis, it would definitely be brown. Nothing against black, but I just love the way that brown leather ages. I also wear mostly brown shoes. It might also have to do with the fact that brown is a good color for me. I tend to wear a lot of brown anyway.

 

[Navin323i]

For me black hides some of the character and beauty of the leather.
I don't wear much black at all anyway, just shoes and a few pants really.

That is a great point about black hiding characteristics of the leather. The same holds true in the car-customizing world that I belong to... black tends to hide the characteristics of custom wheels when viewing wheels at a distance.

Going back to leather, I've heard that black horsehide is good though in terms of how it ages so hopefully the character and beauty wouldn't be negatively impacted.

 

[Chainsaw]

Blacks out of style....

Black leather went out of fashion in the late eighties, with the "Gino" Style. And they were just oversold, along with black belts, and shoes. Brown leather wears better too. If you get a scratch on a pair of brown, or wine died shoes or jacket et-cetera, you just have to oil, or treat with dubbins, and the scratch is gone, or becomes character. Black, ehhh, not so much.

Even Black cars are tough sells, ( what would Ford think? (His original models were only available in black, as the paint dried the fastest)).

 

[Italian-wiseguy]

I have one black leather coat, which I wear quite often
(I guess I'm entitled to have a "Gino" style )

and a dark brown-blackish leather jacket (made in India ) some kind of "Luftwaffian" style, with a collar stand, and A2-ish knit cuffs, which I didn't post here out of being lazy and cause it's nothing vintage.
But I like it!
It has a bit of the "bad boy" (which I'm not ) vibe of black leather, while staying in the conservative range of brown.

So I'm not biased against black.

I used to have a brown leather jacket (veeeeeery heavy, storm cuffs, brown mouton collar... much in the "Aero" style) but it was way too big for me and gave it to my uncle.

Ciao!

 

[sbhva]

Current count

I just went and did a quick inventory of my wearable leather jackets (the one's that still fit ... LOL ) and the score is 5 black and 4 brown. NO, I don't have a problem. I can quit buying leather jackets anytime I want .....

 

[gtdean48]

I have 4 brown leather jackets & 5 black leather jackets, 4 of which are cafe racer style motorcycle jackets. 1 is perforated for warm weather riding. 3 of my brown jackets are A-2 styles, 1 is a gift from my wife many years ago & doesn't get worn at all. I think you need brown & black leather jackets like you need navy & charcoal suits = cover the basics. Classic colors & styles never go out of style but I'm not really into wearing what is in style as much as what I like to wear, goes for my hats as well. [huh]

 

[HighandDry]

Black leather went out of fashion in the late eighties, with the "Gino" Style. And they were just oversold, along with black belts, and shoes. Brown leather wears better too. If you get a scratch on a pair of brown, or wine died shoes or jacket et-cetera, you just have to oil, or treat with dubbins, and the scratch is gone, or becomes character. Black, ehhh, not so much.

Even Black cars are tough sells, ( what would Ford think? (His original models were only available in black, as the paint dried the fastest)).

I disagree that black leather went out of fashion in the eighties! To me, black leather is a classic look.

Black cars are not tough sells. Black is almost consistently in the top 3 of colors sold. Last year it was number two behind white.

 

[Navin323i]

I have one black leather coat, which I wear quite often
(I guess I'm entitled to have a "Gino" style )

and a dark brown-blackish leather jacket (made in India ) some kind of "Luftwaffian" style, with a collar stand, and A2-ish knit cuffs, which I didn't post here out of being lazy and cause it's nothing vintage.
But I like it!
It has a bit of the "bad boy" (which I'm not ) vibe of black leather, while staying in the conservative range of brown.

So I'm not biased against black.

I used to have a brown leather jacket (veeeeeery heavy, storm cuffs, brown mouton collar... much in the "Aero" style) but it was way too big for me and gave it to my uncle.

Ciao!

I'd love to see pics of your made in india leather jacket... from your description it sounds like a cool-looking jacket.

 

[Navin323i]

I disagree that black leather went out of fashion in the eighties! To me, black leather is a classic look.

Black cars are not tough sells. Black is almost consistently in the top 3 of colors sold. Last year it was number two behind white.

100% agree with you... I don't see how black leather went out of fashion in the 80s... if that were the case then the market would have been flooded with only non-black leather jackets in the 90s and 00s. Black leather is definitely a classic and won't go away anytime soon.

Correct on black cars as well... though they're a PAIN to keep clean, black colored cars are consistently in the top color choices of cars. I'm surprised that black came in at number two though... I figured it would be #3 behind white and silver.

 

[JanSolo]

For me personally black only looks good on jackets that have a motorcycle background (they don't have to be real motorcycle jackets though...). A 3/4 length jacket like an Aero Cheyenne for instance would dominate your wardrobe too much when it's black. Plus brown is easier to combine with other colours.
However I love the picture of Daniel Craig and his Hghwmn. Apart from the cap it clearly shows that he can dress. The toned down colours of his cardigan and shirt really go well with the jacket.

I do like black leather:

But if I had to choose it would always be brown:

And I would never get bored...

 

[Navin323i]

^^^ Nice pics, Jan.

I'm not so sure though about your comment about brown being easier to match with other colors versus black. All literature I've read on this subject indicate black is the easiest by far to match with any color.

 

[JanSolo]

Nice story Corky! Glad you got rid of that Trenchcoat. In Germany a black leather trenchcoat would more or less indicate that you have either a weak spot for Nazi/SS ideas or you still like The Matrix very much.

Re Black vs. brown: Brown suits my general style of clothing much better. I don't wear black sweaters, denim jeans or polos, black shirts and shoes only with a suit. I like toned down, muted, or faded colours and those go much better with brown.

 

[Corky]

The reason some people don't wear black leather is simple...

The reason some people don't wear black leather is simple: in places like New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, the wearing of black leather has become a signifier of membership in the S&M community.

If one wears black leather, one sometimes can become the recipient of unwanted attention.

I once owned a classic double breasted black horsehide European overcoat. The kind that people associate with the Heavy in WWII espionage movies. (I acquired it in a flea market in Amsterdam for twenty bucks.)

I was at the time living on the West Side of Manhattan and one of my upstairs neighbors had a trio of untrained German Shepherds. These dogs had the nasty habit of attacking random pedestrians in the following manner: one would grab the victim by one leg, the second would chomp onto the other leg and the third dog would try to bite whatever anatomical target that was left. Only a tall pair of boots prevented a serious mauling the first time I met these animals, but they did manage to shred the legs on my favorite pair of Levi's.

After my initial encounter with these beasts, I wore my heavy black leather overcoat every time I went out the door that winter. But my neighbor eventually got rid of two and kept the other one on a leash, so the threat was diminished and another canine encounter never happened.

However, it was trendy to wear the black leather trench coat, so I wore in now and again, until one particular day.

I was walking down a long block near the docks when I noticed that a shady looking character was following me. I stopped and he stopped. I kept moving and he kept moving.

Finally, I ducked around a corner and into a doorway. When the shady character came around, I confronted him.

I said ""OK, mister, you've been following me for a couple of blocks. Listen: if you follow me for one more step, I'm gonna punch you in the nose!"

And this guy says to me: "You'd do that for me? Do you promise?"

I told him that was not my style. He explained that he had made an honest mistake, that the black leather trench coat was considered a powerful statement in the social circles in which he moved.

And so I went home, took off that coat, and never wore that damned thing again.

 

[John in Covina]

I am reading some of these posts and find it funny how what was acceptable as fashion is now some silent signal about "lifestyles" in the urban setting. There is a lesson here about urban living, being "non-judgemental" and the concept of "I did not get that memo on that."

Somebody needs to post the rules, I remember there being a buzz about "signals" like what side men had their stud or earring or this thing about having a neckarchief in ones back pocket and what side was what. Fashion co-opted! Codes are no good with out the code book.

Next is the code about wearing penny loafers with DIMES in them and what does it say if you wear Bass weeguns with sweat socks...