Why all the hatred towards black leather jackets?

[Feraud]

Sometimes a Black Leather Jacket is just a black leather jacket.

 

[David Conwill]

I won’t wear a leather jacket without some reason for doing so (i.e. riding or flying). I don’t have a reason most of the time, so my lone leather jacket (either a very dark brown, or a brownish black - baggy and uncomfortable whatever it is) spends most of its time in my closet.

If I did fly, an A2 would be a no-brainer for me, or perhaps a B3, if I did open cockpit work. In either case, it’s about a connection to history. Maybe if I somehow ended up with a JU-87, I might consider black.

If I did ride, I’d want a brown police (“Brando”) jacket, if I could find such a creature. I get tired of the sea of black wherever motorcyclists congregate, and my own palette tends toward earth tones anyway, with grays and blacks only being reserved for more formal occasions and big cities.

An arbitrary set of fashion rules, I’m sure. But hey, they’re mine.

-Dave

 

[Navin323i]

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.

I'm not familiar with that acronym... S&M? What's that?

Those dogs sound horrible... good thing that they didn't injure you.

 

[John in Covina]

Sometimes a Black Leather Jacket is just a black leather jacket.

That says it succinctly!

 

[Fletch]

why are your papers in order?

The brown leather trench coat is problematic in the former East Bloc countries as the black one is in large US cities - and on a larger scale, because the brown coat was once the not-so-secret uniform of the secret police. Drawing the attention of the man in brown might end with far worse than a pop in the chops.

I wouldn't feel constrained from wearing one in New York or Boston, but I would not take a chance in Budapest or Prague.

 

[DBLIII]

My "prejudice" about black leather jackets is really my own creation. I suppose it's not a prejudice at all, more of a long ingrained habit. I have two or three black leather jackets, all motorcycle related. Since I've been riding Harleys since 1981, I always wore a black leather jacket while riding (unless it was just too hot, like summer in Wyoming).
Anyway, I have come to associate black leather with motorcycles so strongly that if I am not on the bike, I just don't wear black. It's odd thinking I know, but it's like black leather = bike ride and brown leather = doing something that isn't connected to motorcycles.
These days I ride very little so the black leather has stayed in the closet.

Having said all that, this spring I bought a brown leather motorcycle jacket with "Harley-Davidson" embroidered on the back, which promptly tossed my color to activity scale into terrible disarray......

 

[Fletch]

I won’t wear a leather jacket without some reason for doing so (i.e. riding or flying).

My reasons: walking, biking, driving, being in the elements.

I do admit to a fascination with flight, though I am not a pilot. If I were, I would be an open-cockpit, low-altitude, wind-in-the-wires pilot. Sadly, I lack a spatial and detail-oriented mind. I would be a crash waiting to happen.

Most important to me is the "personality" a good jacket gains as I wear it. That is comforting and satisfying in a very basic, tactile way, a way very different from cloth garments.

A good jacket - like a good hat - is sensible armor for the everyday world.

 

[kampkatz]

Any fashion designer will tell you that black leather(or whatever) NEVER goes out of fashion.

 

[Fletch]

And 8 in 10 will probably make icky faces and roll-eyes if you mention brown leather. That's what designers' opinions are worth. They're more about trends than taste.

 

[jon z]

I'm not familiar with that acronym... S&M? What's that?

Sausage & mash. No, no, I jest. S&M = Sadomasochism

The brown leather trench coat is problematic in the former East Bloc countries as the black one is in large US cities - and on a larger scale, because the brown coat was once the not-so-secret uniform of the secret police. Drawing the attention of the man in brown might end with far worse than a pop in the chops.

I wouldn't feel constrained from wearing one in New York or Boston, but I would not take a chance in Budapest or Prague.

That's a great (no pun intended) looking coat & you wear it well. I would love to own one like it one day.

 

[tonypaj]

I went and did it. Wore a black leather jacket to work. To my astonishment nobody spat at me. I got one "this is damn heavy", though, it is, after all, a FQHH Hercules. I'm a bit disappointed, as I already know that the jacket is heavy. I was kind of expecting something more (well, not the S&M, stuff, really, not that there's anything wrong with it...).

 

[Fletch]

jon z: My coat above is a Cresco, vintage late 1970s, probably calfskin. It's a lean cut size 42, with no allowance for a suit underneath.

 

[jon z]

Thanks for the info Fletch. I'd not be wanting to wear a suit under mine, well not unless you class Lee jeans & jacket as a suit.

 

[David Conwill]

My reasons: walking, biking, driving, being in the elements.

I do admit to a fascination with flight, though I am not a pilot. If I were, I would be an open-cockpit, low-altitude, wind-in-the-wires pilot. Sadly, I lack a spatial and detail-oriented mind. I would be a crash waiting to happen.

Most important to me is the "personality" a good jacket gains as I wear it. That is comforting and satisfying in a very basic, tactile way, a way very different from cloth garments.

A good jacket - like a good hat - is sensible armor for the everyday world.

No criticism was intended of those who find a leather jacket suitable for any purpose. I was just stating my own reasons for what I would wear and why. Most of the other activities you noted are things I would generally prefer some type of textile for.

I also don't wear a leather jacket or coat nearly so well as you.

-Dave

 

[Navin323i]

Sausage & mash. No, no, I jest. S&M = Sadomasochism


That's a great (no pun intended) looking coat & you wear it well. I would love to own one like it one day.

lol Thanks Jon.

I agree... that coat looks great on Fletch! Years back (or I should say decades back) my cousin's husband gave me a black leather trenchcoat that he bought in India. I really liked that jacket but unfortunately my older brother who back then was in college decided to wear that jacket as part of his halloween costume (he dressed up as Brandon Lee's character in the movie, "Crow") and wound up getting white face paint all over the jacket... eventually I think my parents wound up throwing out that jacket.

Seeing Fletch's cool jacket reminded me of my old jacket.

 

[Speedbird]

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...

I am not sure I entirely understand what John is saying but I am fairly sure I agree with him..... :eusa_clap

black, brown, yeaaaaaaaaaaah .... fish n chips, salt n vinegar ...... pretty much every jacket in every style has been reproduced in black and brown equally ... a Perfecto in brown kinda looks 'different' and so does an A-2 in black ... but they exist and work just as well ... and if you have the confidence, electric blue, cherry red, and maybe even flamingo pink will also work....

All this tribal symbolism is all well and good ... I am not denying it exists ... but we seem to be experiencing a case of the emperors new clothes ... we have our own tribe all struggling to be individual while remaining the same ... no prizes for guessing the uniform of choice here!

Black, brown, whatever takes your fancy and matches the rest of your outfit...

Why can't I be concise like Feraud? sometimes a black jacket is just a black jacket....

 

[rippy444]

I have two black jackets similar to our man Fletch and they look fine. A nice jacket, a good shirt and the right or any hat "tops it off" I also have my Harley Davidson "95th Anniversary brown and black leather jacket. At a meer cost of $650.00 in it's day" It looks good also. Leather has always been around. It is protective. Ask me I know. I slid down the road with leather on and I still have my skin. They cut the jacket in half and gave it back. I"ll send some pictures when i can afford a camera, I mean if the wife lets me borrow it.:eusa_doh: lol RIP

Big oaks by mighty acorns grow.

 

[AngryNJ]

I'll agree that brown in a much more common choice here, but I don't know that there's an outright hatred for black.

James Bond wears a black Aero:

I could not find a matching thread about Daniel Craig using search. Can anyone tell me if this is (opinions are fine) heavy fqhh or maybe midweight? This looks spot on for the jacket I plan to order from Aero. Thanks!

 

[westinghouse]

I could not find a matching thread about Daniel Craig using search. Can anyone tell me if this is (opinions are fine) heavy fqhh or maybe midweight? This looks spot on for the jacket I plan to order from Aero. Thanks!

That is midweight. I can tell because the shine is more matte compared to FQHH.

 

[Stearmen]

Red Hair

I will repeat what Richard Thompson said: Red hair and black leather, my favorite color scheme!