THE JOURNAL
From left: David Bowie. Photograph by Ebet Roberts/Getty Images. Rob Lowe. Photograph by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
The words “leather jacket” can too often prompt a wince in fashionable circles. It’s an item indelibly associated with the male midlife crisis – the kind of look that might attempt to channel Bruce Springsteen in the 1970s but ends up more like a long-lost Top Gear presenter, wearing too-tight, outmoded outerwear in a vain attempt to signal he’s “still got it”.
But cringe time is over. We need to reclaim this item that – when done right – can look, to use its signature adjective, cool. After all, this is a design that dates back to the 1950s and people with the quality in spades. See Marlon Brando, who wore one to play the leader of a biker gang in 1953’s The Wild One and snarled with masculine charisma. If Brando’s was a biker jacket, not everyone can get away with that shape in 2025. Instead, a blouson or bomber style looks fresher and it still has heroes. This shape took hold in the 1980s, when everyone from Rob Lowe to David Bowie wore it.
To update the look, MR PORTER’s Style Director Benedict Browne recommends “streamlined designs that forgo exaggerated embellishments and unnecessary zips and clips”. Sleek and modern designs can make any young man feel put together and confident and a “midlife-crisis nearing guy feel 20 years younger”.
For more modern references, look to the red carpet. This shape has been taken up by a stylish cohort of men – Joe Alwyn, Manny Jacinto and Aaron Taylor-Johnson have recently worn them. They have also been on the catwalk and explored at the kind of brands that ooze effortlessness – see TOM FORD, CELINE, SAINT LAURENT and LOEWE.
Hollywood stylist Ilaria Urbinati, who works with Jacinto and Taylor-Johnson, agrees that effortless is the way. “Go oversized and let [the jacket] fall almost like a slumped-on coat,” she says. “Then it has a more effortless look and looks less like Fonzie from Happy Days.”
This is, of course, the aim. Look to these tips when purchasing a leather jacket to avoid the “ehs” with aplomb. And stop worrying about your midlife crisis.
01. Think about your silhouette and your shade
Bad leather jackets are always ill-fitting. The good ones – think CELINE’s bombers or SAINT LAURENT’s slinky styles – come with volume. It can be worth sizing up, especially if you like the shape of a jacket, but want it to look a bit more casual. There are other practical advantages, too. With a bigger jacket, you can fit a chunky sweater underneath and wear your leather jacket well into the winter.
Colour is also a consideration – and going beyond black is worth thinking about. “Brown is all the rage this season,” Browne says (he’s not biased, honest). “It’s as versatile a colour as navy, but overlooked and under-appreciated. It pairs effortlessly with black for a cool, masculine look but also with lighter autumnal tones.”
02. This is statement outerwear, but it’s part of a whole
There are some caveats to ensure you make the most out of this shape. Keep the lines clean. With its waistband, the leather blouson looks best without something sticking out underneath it, so make sure the jumper or sweatshirt you’re wearing is slightly shorter or tucked in.
If lots of jackets look better open, the leather blouson is a rare design that works both open – hands in pockets, even better – or closed, for a tough and purposeful look. Contrast can be a secret weapon when deciding what you wear it with. “I think if you throw it over a thin sweater or knit it does calm the whole look down, so it’s less like leather daddy,” Urbinati says.
While jeans are tempting as a classic pairing, Browne suggests a different combo. “The way that The Row and Studio Nicholson present their leather jackets feels like the way to wear them – wide, roomy-cut trousers, regardless of pleats or flat-fronts, in which the hems collapse over the top of the shoe to make it feel effortless and easy.”
03. It ages like a fine wine
A leather jacket is an investment, the kind of item you’ll wear on repeat – and one that will only get better. “Like leather shoes, a leather jacket will appreciate with age,” Browne says. “The more you wear it, the more comfortable it will become. The little scuffs here and there only add to its charm.”
That means it can come with you wherever you go and whatever you’re doing, whether heading to the office or on the weekend. “A good leather jacket is like a good navy blazer,” Browne says. “It can and should be able to work with your entire wardrobe, within reason. Whether it’s with more formal pieces beneath – tailored trousers and an understated knit – or with thrashed jeans and equally worn T-shirts.”
How to dress it up? “With a beautiful tailored trouser and polished Chelsea boots,” Urbinati says. “Then it goes very SAINT LAURENT, which is always clean.” And, almost certainly, cool.
