Leather Jackets
From the Catwalks to the Streets
Vivian Fernandes VIVIAN FERNANDES
Vivian Fernandes is a Masters student in Fashion Promotion and Imaging in the University for The Creative Arts. She graduated in Journalism in Brazil, where she was born, and came to England in order to study a Masters degree. Interested in street style, she decided to write this trend report based on the leather jacket, which is an item that always appears on the catwalks, and has been fashionable since the 1950s, in the rebel era, with James Dean as an inspiration. This is also part of work for graduation on the course that she is studying. The proposal is to write a trend report, and Vivian decided to customise one particular grey leather bomber jacket to hand in as part of the promotion of the product.
Why you should purchase a leather jacket?
Another good point is the price of the jacket, which can be accessible for everybody. It can be bought in a famous designer store when made in real leather, or even some synthetic material in a cheap store. This material is known as pleather. The material that the jacket it is made out of can make
the price lower or higher. Clearly the quality is not the same, but it can still create a good outfit, and anyone can be fashionable. In this Autumn/ Winter collection, 2014/2015, it appeared incatwalks of theLondon,Milan and Paris Fashion Week, but since the 1950s, both men and women have been spotted wearing it in the streets. In the beginning, it was seen as just for rebel type people, but now everybody uses it.
The singer Demi Lovato wear romantic clothing, and is using a leather jacket
http://www.bagbliss.com/prada/demi-lovato-style-prada-vitello-shine-tote-bag/
The leather jacket is a fashion item that is never seen out of the catwalks, and can be easily found and customized. It can be combined with any kind of item of clothing, making the person who is wearing it be considered as stylish. It can also be made of any colour. A pink or white one can create a romantic style; black or brown, rocker or motorcycle; blue or silver, can be seen as more stylish. The combination depends on the style of who is wearing the jacket.
How will the grey bomber customised pleather jacket be promoted? VIVIAN FERNANDES
It will be on display in the next Bread & Butter exhibition, that will be in Messe Berlin Airport Tempelhof (Germany), from 8th to 10th July. A customized grey pleather bomb jacket with a hood, bought in a second-hand store, will have a patch with a QR Code in the the front part and many studs, beads and spikes, all stitched on it. The person who takes a picture of the code will be connected to a website with all the information about this trend report. The Bread & Butter is a trade fair, created in 2001 in Cologne. It has every year, many trend shows of some famous brands, as Topshop, Uniqlo, and others, and is also a great opportunity for young designers to display their collections. The focus is Street and Urban Wear, and is a good meeting place for manufacturers and buyers of the textile industry.
For the exhibition, it is necessary to send an e-mail to the Bread & Butter (exhibitor@ breadandbutter.com), explaining why it is important to be exhibited. Attached on it, should have an application with the material, as images of the jacket and the trend report. This way, is necessary just wait for the reply and be prepared to exhibit it. The QR Code can be made for free in some websites, and is so simple that anyone is able to create one. People put their website’s link into some of the proper websites to do it and download the code. The idea of making the QR code in a fabric is to show how is easy and simple. It can also be customized and be turn into an interactive platform, to attract young people. To do this, the file was already uploaded into the digital publishing platform Issuu (issuu.com), and then the link of it became the code. The proposal of the customised leather jacket is to show young people how it is fashionable, and the aim is to sell it to the brand H&M, and encourage them to do the same way of promotion with other products. Address of Bread & Butter: Messe Berlin Tempelhof Airport Platz der Luftbrucke 5 Berlin, Germany This is the QR Code that will direct the person to the file
The Swedish group H&M is 67 years old, and makes not just clothing nowadays, but even fashion for houses. Today, 54 countries has the brand, divided in more that 3,200 stores, and an online shop. The group has the following stores: H&M, COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday, & Other Stories and the H&M Home. The first store was found in Västerås, Sweden, in 1947, named as Hennes. It made just women’s wear. Nowadays, this first store had become a global fashion company. In 1968, the name changed to Hennes & Mauritz, because the founder, Erling Persson bought a hunting and fishing equipment store named Mauritz Widforss, to sell men’s and children’s clothing as well. The focus on teenagers and the beggining of selling cosmetics was in 1977. Passing the time, it had increased and was spread on Europe, America and Asia, offering shipping for some countries of these continents. The idea of selling the bomber pleather jacket to this brand is because they already sell pleather and leather jackets in their stores, and if they customize their products, will get more buyers, mainly young people, and if they encourage their public to do the same, can get more customers, as young designers or people that likes to do customize old clothing. It is also a sustainable option. They can sell different studs, beads and spikes in the stores just for people do it. Thinking in the Bread & Butter exhibition, H&M is already one of the brands that exhibits their products every year on it, so the jacket can be a piece of clothing to be on display, as a new idea for the people who already knows the brand and is expecting something new in the fair this year. The average age of people that usually buy this kind of jacket is 16 to 25 years old, and they usually like to be dressed in a different way, comparing to the other people that has the same age. The people of this average like to be always in fashion, but at the same time, they also like to wear different outfits, and something that just they have, so it is important to encourage them to buy customized items or just customize their own outfits. The leather jacket is an item that all young people always have in their wardrobes, so this piece is a good way of promotion, and depending of the material that it is made (leather or pleather), it can be affordable for everyone. The first H&M store, Hennes, in Västerås, Sweden, in 1947
http://hennesmauritz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/ chp1-brief-history-hennes-to-h.html
Budget Based in the idea of doing something stylish and cheap at the same time for young people, the jacket was bought in a second-hand store for just £5. This way, some charity place (in this case, was the Cancer Research UK) can be helped. But, at the same time, H&M can do some cheap jackets just to encourage more people to buy and use it. It can also be in a special edition of the brand. The studs and spikes to customize it were ordered online on the website Amazon. co.uk. The beads were bought in a haberdashery supply store. The patch with the QR Code, was made out of a special paper that is first printed in a inkjet printer, and then ironed in a piece of fabric, that was bought separately. Everything was stitched and customized by the student. For the exhibition it will be necessary to have a mannequin that will be borrowed from the University for the Creative Arts for free. In the Bread & Butter, the exhibition will also be free, because the brand is already doing it every year. The total of costs is around £20. The brand can also produce some studs, spikes and patch’s to sell and encourage people to be creative and design their own customized outfits. This can be cheaper than the price that the student paid to do it, and can bring to the brand a sustainable trademark as well, because their costumers can do it with some old clothes that maybe just need some special details to be used again.
Second-Hand Leather Jacket Studs x1000 Spikes x100 + Delivery Beads Special Paper Piece of Fabric Print Mannequin
£5 £1 £6 £3 £6 £0,5 £0.05 Free
Total Price
£21,55
History The first motorcycle jacket had the name “The Perfecto”. It was made in 1928 by Irving Schott, and the product was sold in the Harley Davidson’ store in New York for just $5,50. This was used by people who rode motorcycles, but just became popular in the movie The Wild One, in 1953, when Marlon Brando was using it. About two years later the sex symbol James Dean made the leather jacket as his copyright, because he always wore this outfit to show a rebel reputation. In that time, some young guys began to use it to copy Dean’ style, but many schools prohibited their students of wearing it because they were afraid that they could show bad behaviours. Studs and spikes became popular with the punks in the 1970s, because they usually customized their outfits to show violence and to prove to the society that they were different and rebelled. They stitched on patches as well, with their favourite bands or movements that they followed. Nowadays men who use this customized jacket are usually punks, or even rockers.
VIVIAN FERNANDES
In 1974, the punk band Ramones, was recognised as making something new, as described by Punk Magazine. The four musicians usually wore black “Perfecto” jackets, denim trousers and white t-shirts creating their identity, that could be also related with punk rock. Years later some rock bands like Oasis, for example, adopted the same style. The leader of the punk rock band Eddie & The Hot Rods, Barrie Masters, was using a red and white leather jacket in one of the concerts in the European tour, and said in an interview that he uses it because “is more practical, I always wore. I ride motorbikes, so I wear leather jacket. Not many people like leather jackets, but I think that is a cool thing to wear”, completes him. In the same day, one of the guitarists was wearing a black leather jacket too. VIVIAN FERNANDES
For the bass player of the band, Dipster Dean, the leather jacket can be easily related with punk. “It goes back to the day of James Dean, with a rebel cause, the leather jacket rebellion. I think punk is rebellion and against the system. I do not particularly wear leather jacket, I have got a little one, is modern, but I think I am tall for it, and if I wear, I will look stupid. It works for some people, so if you like it, wear it”, he finishes.
Leather Jacket
From the Catwalks to the Streets
http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2014/ready-to-wear/belstaff
As a must-have item, the leather jacket appeared on six catwalks this Autumn Winter collection in the differents Fashion Weeks. It was shown in the collections of Belstaff and Christopher Kane in London, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Chanel and Junya Watanabe in Paris and Moschino in Milan. Last year, 2013, Saint Laurent had this piece in his collection, with four different models wearing it on his catwalk in Paris Fashion Week.
Belstaff’s collection had more black outfits, such for women than for men, but the clothing are similar for both: black boots, leather jacket and skirt (trousers for men). The kind of jackets were similar to “The Perfecto”. The Autumn/Winter colour for Chistopher Kane’s woman jackets is black too. On his catwalk in London Fashion Week, he showed three different clothing using pleather, that looks like composing a rain style. These included one used with a jumpsuit and a dress code trouser, while the other one was used with a skirt made by the same material. The other composition
http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2014/ready-to-wear/christopher-kane
was the jacket with a skirt, and both had small holes, used with a pink t-shirt. The collection had some leather coats as well, and one of them was grey, and other had fur inside. Specially this collection shows how the leather jacket can be used with many styles and still be feminine. Part of Jean Paul Gaultier’s collection was based on punk. With leather, tartan and flags, he dressed all the models, even children with Mohican hair, dark make up, studs and spikes, and they showed punk attitude in the catwalk. As in Christopher Kane’s collection, some of
the jackets were made by pleather too. They were colourful, with paint in grey, silver and red. This showed that the punk movement is still alive for fashion. Also in Jean Paul Gaultier’s exhibition, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, that is happening in Barbican London, until 25th August, he shows a punk side with leather in many outfits, combined with flags and tartan. These were made in his previous collections, celebrating the punk era in 1970s.
http://www.elleuk.com/catwalk/designer-a-z/jean-paul-gaultier/autumn-winter-2014
http://www.elleuk.com/catwalk/designer-a-z/jean-paul-gaultier/autumn-winter-2014
http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/ gallery/17056/23/junya-watanabe-aw14
Both man and woman collection of Junya Watanabe was punk. With colourful and different hairstyles, he used lots of tartan and stitched clothing in the male one. But just the women’s collection had some leather on it. They were two different “Perfecto” jackets. One was full of patchwork of leather mixed with other different kinds of fabrics. In the other, the front part was conventional, but the sleeves were full of patches, as the other one.
http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2014/ready-to-wear/chanel
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/f email/ article-2572888/Chanel-does-supermarket-chic-Runway-turns-shoppingcentre-muses-Cara-Delevingne-Kendall-Jenner-catwalk-DREADLOCKS-tracksuits.html
Even the most commented catwalk for the magazines, which was the supermarket created by Karl Lagerfeld in Chanel’s last collection, with the name Chanel Shopping Center, one of the models was using in the catwalk a black zipped fitted leather jacket with buttoms and darts, and chinese mandarim collar. In some advertisements, the top model Cara Delevigne appeared with the singer Rihanna in a market trolley using a black leather jacket.
http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/fashion/ideas/36934/51/moschino-aw14-milan-fashion-week.html#index=4&uiSynced=true
The polemic Moschino’s collection, that recreated some food brands and turn it into something fashionable (as McDonalds and Cheetos trademark, for example), had leather jackets too. Mixed with golden colour outfits and accessories, the outfits with leather gave the clear idea of a luxury brand. The black and gold ones are more for street style, while the jackets with cow prints and allusion to McDonalds acessories, were more glamourous. Outside of the catwalks, some young people were also spotted walking in the London Fashion Week wearing leather jackets. Some of the pictures were taken by Folk, from the blog folkandf lair.blogspot. co.uk. One picture is of a guy with stylish Mohican hair and some punk inf luence in his outfits; another one is of girl in a romantic way, even wearing trainers and the jacket; and another recalls the movie Hellraiser, with many pinheads and some tortured style, and a customized leather jacket. Carry Somers, from Pachacuti, was also spotted wearing a leather jacket with a yellow short dress, black tights and boots, in a romantic style. FOLK
FOLK
Walking in the streets of London, you can easily see many people using different styles of leather and pleather jacket. The most common is “The Perfecto�, that has side zipper, a belt in the waistline, some pockets and a collar falling. The Aviator one is usually brown or caramel, and have some padding inside, that helps to keep the body warm. It became famous by Tom Cruise in the movie Top Gun, and makes part of the military trend. It is good for a vintage look, but is not in trend this year. The Bomber, popular by James Dean too, was part of the catwalks, and lots of people uses it because is easy to combine. It has elastic in the waist and in the sleeve cuffs. The zipper has a V shape as well. This kind of garment needs to be avoid by overweight people because of the elastic, that can make the person looks bigger. It is good to be combined with skinny jeans.
Closest to Burberry Prorsum, some people were clicked wearing leather jacket too
The Biker, famous by Marlon Brando in The Wild One movie, is more indicated for men, because it usually have high-fitting collar or no collar at all, and the zipper is in the middle. Is good for fit man that has a glam rock style. The Hooded, used by David Beckham, is good for young people, because it fits in the body and has hood, what made it have a youthful appeal. This have elastic in the waist and in the sleeve cuffs as well, that can make the shoulders look bigger. The Tan and Colored Leather one, popular by John Wayne, can attract attention mainly when men wear it, because it is different. It can be one of any style above, and me made of pleather too. VIVIAN FERNANDES
Deia Cassali, one of the participants of the program X-Factor, wearing Biker jacket in the Victoria Park, in London