Almost everyone loves leather jackets; whether you’re 18 or 80, you just can’t help to ignore the popularity and the attractiveness of this timeless merch. Just before getting your hands on one of them, a question starts to radicate in your mind. But what style? For my age? I definitely don’t want to buy one that’s out of fashion. And I don’t want to buy one that’s not appropriate for my age.
Any man between the ages of 18 and 80 can pull off wearing a leather jacket if he buys the right one. So to actually help you to find out the best fit and style for your age, let’s break it into two parts; First, let’s talk about the most general rules; things you want to pay attention to. Then, our style picks and talks about the type of man, the age, and the body style, so let’s get started.
Rule No# 1 The Jacket Must Fit
The first thing you need to make sure anytime you buy a Café Racer Motorcycle Jacket or any other jacket. In general, these are very difficult to get adjusted because they don’t fit you in the shoulders. If the sleeve length is two inches too long or two inches too short. If it just doesn’t fit, the length doesn’t look right; getting this adjusted, 99.9% of men are not going to do this. So you’re going to end up buying a jacket; it’s going to sit in your closet.
Rule No# 2 Get The Right Jacket For Your Body Type
Now the second thing you want to pay attention to needs to understand is that different jacket styles are going to suit different body types. So there’s a reason that most guys think that the leather jacket is the, you know, it’s the role of the young man. Why? Because when you’re 22 years old, usually you are in the best shape of your life. When you’re 52 years old, you may have gained a little bit of weight around the midsection, and though designs like the mens cafe racer leather jacket may accommodate your growth, others may not.
And a lot of styles that the leather jackets are made in are just not necessarily going to suit your body type. But if you’re looking at the Moto style, if you’re looking at the shorter jacket styles, the bomber type style leather jacket, you need to understand that that is really geared towards the man that’s in great shape. If your midsection is larger, you’ve got to understand that most leather jacket styles will not suit your build. And there’s other clothing you’re going to want to try.
Rule No# 3
Now the third rule to finding the perfect leather jacket is to understand that all leather jackets, by default, are casual. Yes, there will be some leather jacket styles, maybe one that’s an overcoat style that is going to feel more formal, but the material of leather, especially the tougher leather, or leather and a lighter color. This will always be a casual material compared with worsted wool, cashmere, or anything like that. This is not going to be the domain normally of dress clothing.
The Double Rider
So this jacket style was introduced over 70 years ago by a guy named Irving Schott, and it was made popular in the movie, The Wild One when Marlon Brando wore this jacket, and all of a sudden, everybody had to have one. So this jacket is a functional jacket. If you’re 18 or if you’re over, you can pull it off if you ride motorcycles, if you used to ride motorcycles you just like the look you feel it looks amazing on you then you can pull off the jacket, but in general, it does look best on men that are in shape.
Now, if you can’t tell, this jacket is a casual jacket with asymmetrical fastening with the diagonal zipper with those oversized collars right on there. Everything about this jacket just screams. This is a functional piece. This isn’t something clean; this isn’t something that you’d be able to dress up. It’s a statement in itself!
The Moto/Café Racer
Next up, we’ve got my favorite type of leather jacket, the motor racer, also known as the Vintage Café Racer Jacket. When you look at this jacket, you see symmetry. You see something that is very sleek, very simple in design; this is all about protection. This is why it is the ideal fit for your 80s! This is all about function. When you go up, the new style zips up all the way on the collar. And by the way, if it’s a true racing jacket, when you open it up, it’s also going to have a flap there to protect you from the wind coming in, the point being this jacket right here is designed for the elegant European racer on a motorcycle. And that’s really where it has its origin.
Now, if you choose to purchase this jacket and the dark leather, you can dress it up. If you choose to go with a lighter color or with contrast colors, you’re going to see many of these racers using bright colors that will bring down the formality and make it more of a fun casual jacket. Really, it’s up to you.
The Bomber/Flight Jacket
Next up, we’ve got the leather bomber jacket, also known as a leather flight jacket. These, as the name implies, have a history with pilots; why would pilots wear leather jackets? Well, because leather does a very good job of stopping wind right in its tracks, and it’s going to be flexible, you’re gonna be able to move around the cockpit, and you need to be able to stay warm; they are not heated. A lot of people don’t know once you’re up at like 20,000 15,000, even 10,000 feet, it gets really cold really fast. So when those cockpits were not insulated, you needed to be made sure that you actually stayed warm. Another key characteristic of bomber jackets is going to be the elastic around the wrist and around the waist. This helps to keep in that warm air and better insulate the wear.
Other key characteristics are going to be a turndown collar lined with fleece to help keep the pilot warm. And occasionally, you’ll see large pockets right there on the front lower part of the jacket, so the pilot can throw whatever he wants inside. In general, this is a very casual style, but suitable for any age seriously.
The Varsity
Let’s talk about the varsity-style jacket. And the leather you’re gonna see here is usually just on the sleeves. So some of you guys may not consider this a leather jacket, but they are. So this star here is geared towards the younger man, the man in high school, the man in college, hence the style of this jacket. If you’re 24 years old, you graduated college two years ago. Yeah, probably not something you want to be still wearing your varsity jacket, and definitely not your high school jackets. But in general, this is a young man’s style, unlike the Retro Cafe Racer Leather Jacket that can easily be pulled off by any age group.