Leather Jackets in the 20th Century

In the 20th century the leather jacket achieved iconic status especially in the cinema. The most obvious has to be Marlon Brando's Johnny Strabler character in The Wild One (1953),as a result these all masiveley popularised leather jackets through out American and British youth. The leather jacket appeared in everyones wardrobe from the "greaser" subculture in the 1950s and early 1960s, an example of this is The Fonz's iconic leather jacket from Happy days. The Fonz's leather jacket has now been layed to rest in the Smithsonian Institution.

Leather jackets were also worn in aviation and the military they were often reffered to as "Bomber jackets" and were also seen on many stars in the 1940s and 1950s examples include Jimmy Stewart in the 1957 film, Night Passage. The brown leather jacket has been a de rigueur part of the wardrobe of a Hollywood adventurer.

There are many more examples of iconic leather jackets worn in popular culture towards the end of the 20th century from the T-800 Character in the Terminator movies, to the longer ¾ length trench coat style worn by action heroes such as Steven Seagal and then again in The Matrix as worn by Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne.

Brad Pitt gave the world a fresh spin on the leather jacket in the movie Fight Club, where Tyler Durden constantly appears with different variations of his red leather jacket.

Leather jackets have always been popular in music. Punk rock groups such as the Ramones and the Libertines were both seen wearing several styles.

By: Gojira