Why does Indiana Jones wear a leather jacket in the dessert?

[Big J]

A blue one! Nice idea ….! Thanks for the tip!

No dude! The suit is blue, but the fedora is Indy brown.
But check out Penman Hats website because John can make them in all colors, and I think that avoiding brown would dispel the Indy connection even with a leather jacket.

 

[Frunobulax]

I have to say that, when I tried on the Indy fedora in that shop (that I mentioned earlier) and thought it looked so good, I have to admit that I paused and wondered if I'd be inviting the usual trite comments …
But I knew if that hat looked good, then a proper one would look great. And I'd still love one and am hunting for a good Indy hat.
And as Seb said earlier, I couldn't care less what the masses think either. They like to all look the same - and they look and behave more and more like the crazy citizens of Mega City One (Judge Dredd, 2000A.D. comic) to me. If you ever read it as a youngster, you'll know exactly what I mean.

Try this one.

 

[Mark Ricketts]

I have a whole stack of hats I would happily sell for $350 that I can print up a certificate of authenticity for. Just as believable.
Try the Akubra Federation IV instead.

 

[Stand By]

No dude! The suit is blue, but the fedora is Indy brown.
But check out Penman Hats website because John can make them in all colors, and I think that avoiding brown would dispel the Indy connection even with a leather jacket.

Ohhhhhh…. doh!
Will look them up - thanks!

 

[Stand By]

Just looked at the Penman hats … WOW!
And it's always amazing to me how things "imprint" themselves on to you - from the first time you saw them and they leave an indelible feeling. For example, my old type ELC B-6 is the one I wanted because it was the first one I saw in The Golden Book … I don't care for the newer broken grain ones as it's the old style I drooled over for so long in my old battered copy of that book.
And again, looking at the Indy hats, I like the Raiders version because it was the first time I'd seen our hero in this style of hat - and they all later differed slightly - but there's no mistaking that original! It's a beautiful thing.
What's the difference in the materials though - rabbit/beaver ?

 

[Frunobulax]

I have a whole stack of hats I would happily sell for $350 that I can print up a certificate of authenticity for. Just as believable.
Try the Akubra Federation IV instead.

I don't think you should bid on it then.

 

[Big J]

Just looked at the Penman hats … WOW!
And it's always amazing to me how things "imprint" themselves on to you - from the first time you saw them and they leave an indelible feeling. For example, my old type ELC B-6 is the one I wanted because it was the first one I saw in The Golden Book … I don't care for the newer broken grain ones as it's the old style I drooled over for so long in my old battered copy of that book.
And again, looking at the Indy hats, I like the Raiders version because it was the first time I'd seen our hero in this style of hat - and they all later differed slightly - but there's no mistaking that original! It's a beautiful thing.
What's the difference in the materials though - rabbit/beaver ?

I'm not an expert, and I think that there is a thread about this in the hats section, but beaver is naturally waterproof, so you can wear you hat even in a serious downpour, and when it dries it won't shrink or lose its shape AFAIK.

 

[Stand By]

AFAIK ? (sorry. Not hip with acronyms)

 

[IXL]

As far as I know.....

 

[IXL]

I'm hip.

 

[Stand By]

Ahhhh! Thx !!!

 

[Stand By]

It's like the gag in Modern Family: "WTF: Why The Face?" Cracked me up that one.

 

[Stand By]

And getting back to the original question, I see that Erwin Rommel, "The Desert Fox", also wore a leather jacket in the desert. It must have made sense for him too ...

 

[frussell]

As someone who lives in the desert, I'll second some of the previous posts. A leather jacket might not be super comfy during the day, but I've seen temperature drops of 50 to 60 degrees between day and night here, not to mention the occasional sandstorm or high winds that would make a leather jacket a great option. Even in hotter temps, I often wear short leather chaps, or "chinks" when horseback, because we have some pretty gnarly cactus, ocotillo, and yucca plants that will poke right through jeans. If I was on foot, a leather jacket would serve the same purpose, protection-wise. Plus, as above posted, it looks cool. Frank.

 

[MikeKardec]

I don't know about Egypt but I've worn leather jackets in a number of American deserts and appreciated them mightily ... as we all know Indy never had any time to take it off!

A funny story about the hat. Without mentioning any names, (though I've posted about this) I worked on a fairly high end Cable movie that had a Raiders vibe. Raiders was specifically mentioned when we were asked to create it, though I tried to skew the plot in the direction of a more Romantic Adventure (easier on the budget and appropriate to the era) rather than the more actiony Raiders thing.

We used a particular star who happens to shave his head and wear hair pieces when he wants hair. It's important to note that hair pieces deform over time and thus don't last forever. He started on short notice and we had to give a cut to an existing piece while we waited for a new, tight, replacement to arrive. The one we started with didn't look as good as it could have, so we stuck a fedora on him for a few scenes.

Panic. In. The. Streets. We'd been tasked to do a Raiders-like or Raiders-lite film but when the fedora showed up in dailies we were IMMEDIATELY told to get that damn thing out of there ... it was just TOO Raiders. Interesting how most men could wear a certain style of hat from the 1890s to the 1960s, yet today it is utterly associated with one particular character only. We found a replacement cap and stuck with it ... odd because Raiders-lite or not we'd never intended to use any hat at all!

 

[thor]

As someone who lives in the desert, I'll second some of the previous posts. A leather jacket might not be super comfy during the day, but I've seen temperature drops of 50 to 60 degrees between day and night here, not to mention the occasional sandstorm or high winds that would make a leather jacket a great option. Even in hotter temps, I often wear short leather chaps, or "chinks" when horseback, because we have some pretty gnarly cactus, ocotillo, and yucca plants that will poke right through jeans. If I was on foot, a leather jacket would serve the same purpose, protection-wise. Plus, as above posted, it looks cool. Frank.

To me, this is THE perfect answer to the OP.

 

[MikeKardec]

As someone who lives in the desert, I'll second some of the previous posts. A leather jacket might not be super comfy during the day, but I've seen temperature drops of 50 to 60 degrees between day and night here, not to mention the occasional sandstorm or high winds that would make a leather jacket a great option. Even in hotter temps, I often wear short leather chaps, or "chinks" when horseback, because we have some pretty gnarly cactus, ocotillo, and yucca plants that will poke right through jeans. If I was on foot, a leather jacket would serve the same purpose, protection-wise. Plus, as above posted, it looks cool. Frank.

In Texas and California chaparral country cowboys who worked as "brush poppers" would often wear leather for protection for branches and thorns. Protection just like motorcycle jackets. I can't say I've worn leather for protection when scrambling around on rocky slopes and such but I've been occasionally happy I had it on!

 

[Don Tomaso]

I don't know about Egypt but I've worn leather jackets in a number of American deserts and appreciated them mightily ... as we all know Indy never had any time to take it off!

A funny story about the hat. Without mentioning any names, (though I've posted about this) I worked on a fairly high end Cable movie that had a Raiders vibe. Raiders was specifically mentioned when we were asked to create it, though I tried to skew the plot in the direction of a more Romantic Adventure (easier on the budget and appropriate to the era) rather than the more actiony Raiders thing.

We used a particular star who happens to shave his head and wear hair pieces when he wants hair. It's important to note that hair pieces deform over time and thus don't last forever. He started on short notice and we had to give a cut to an existing piece while we waited for a new, tight, replacement to arrive. The one we started with didn't look as good as it could have, so we stuck a fedora on him for a few scenes.

Panic. In. The. Streets. We'd been tasked to do a Raiders-like or Raiders-lite film but when the fedora showed up in dailies we were IMMEDIATELY told to get that damn thing out of there ... it was just TOO Raiders. Interesting how most men could wear a certain style of hat from the 1890s to the 1960s, yet today it is utterly associated with one particular character only. We found a replacement cap and stuck with it ... odd because Raiders-lite or not we'd never intended to use any hat at all!

Great story. I particular like how much it emphasises the sheer stupidity of some people, or let me say, the total lack of knowledge and culture in certain places.
When I got my first LHB from Aero, with the patch-pockets and all, and wore it out with a simple Stetson felt-hat, I got all the "Indy"-comments and found it utterly annoying. I'm over it now...

 

[Monitor]

I don't know about Egypt but I've worn leather jackets in a number of American deserts and appreciated them mightily ... as we all know Indy never had any time to take it off!

A funny story about the hat. Without mentioning any names, (though I've posted about this) I worked on a fairly high end Cable movie that had a Raiders vibe. Raiders was specifically mentioned when we were asked to create it, though I tried to skew the plot in the direction of a more Romantic Adventure (easier on the budget and appropriate to the era) rather than the more actiony Raiders thing.

We used a particular star who happens to shave his head and wear hair pieces when he wants hair. It's important to note that hair pieces deform over time and thus don't last forever. He started on short notice and we had to give a cut to an existing piece while we waited for a new, tight, replacement to arrive. The one we started with didn't look as good as it could have, so we stuck a fedora on him for a few scenes.

Panic. In. The. Streets. We'd been tasked to do a Raiders-like or Raiders-lite film but when the fedora showed up in dailies we were IMMEDIATELY told to get that damn thing out of there ... it was just TOO Raiders. Interesting how most men could wear a certain style of hat from the 1890s to the 1960s, yet today it is utterly associated with one particular character only. We found a replacement cap and stuck with it ... odd because Raiders-lite or not we'd never intended to use any hat at all!

That was great and yeah, I can see it! Though, now I want to know which movie was that.

 

[navetsea]

While I don't live in dessert, but our sun is also harsh all day throughout the year, and standing outside in the sun wearing leather is fine, it is the lining that makes the difference imo, and since most dark colored clothing materials would look unrepresentable when faded, thus left me with two options to wear under our burning UV to protect my t-shirt/shirt and my exposed skin, then I prefer leather, since I would be cooked in denim.