By Eric Langlois
Welcome to the first installment of the Jacket Style Spotlight, a series of articles focusing on different kinds of outerwear, their history, and how you can fold them into your style repertoire. Different types of clothing have different style connotations, and throwing a jacket on can be an easy way to change up your look or find the style edge that you’ve been looking for. This week, I’m shining the spotlight on the classic shearling flight jacket.
Fashion moves in cycles, and the shearling jacket has seen a series of booms in popularity. A distinctive material - sheepskin worn with the wool still attached and usually the leather side facing out - shearling has been a common choice for outerwear since the domestication of sheep. In the modern era, shearling jackets became a fashion item after the Second World War, and again in the 1970s as cowboys and skiers became style icons. In recent years ‘70s nostalgia seems to be on the rise, and woolly-collared coats are filling racks in stores. The release of the WWII aviation miniseries Masters of the Air this winter has also drawn attention to the shearling flight jacket, which seems poised to be a major statement piece as people are reminded of its history.
In the earliest days of aviation, when planes few slow, low, and only in good weather, there was little need for dedicated flying clothing. Louis Bleriot and the Wright Brothers can be seen in photographs wearing tweed suits, neckties, and caps as they dismount from their aircraft. The outbreak of the First World War forced pilots to fly higher and in worse weather, and by the 1920s airmail pilots were commonly wearing wooly jackets or full-length leather jumpsuits to guard against the cold. These items were practical for their specific use, but it wasn’t until the Second World War that flight jackets made the jump from practical workwear to fashion item.
By the late 1930s, both the British and American governments had commissioned shearling jackets for their flight crews, and when war broke out in Europe the image of the dashing aviator in his thick, wool-lined leather flight jacket was already set. Films, newsreels, and magazine photo spreads emphasized the glamor inherent in flying, and the B-3, D-1, and Irvin jackets came to symbolize that image. The volume of production during the war, as well as the resilience of the jackets produced, meant that thousands of them ended up in civilian hands after the war ended, becoming popular fashion items.
These waist-length shearling jackets became the favorite outerwear of hot-rodders and motorcyclists in the 1940s and ‘50s, and spread further among the general population in the years since. Generations raised on stories of heroic pilots wanted to emulate them, and luckily there were bins full of surplus jackets available as air forces upgraded to modern Jet-Age materials, leaving sheepskin behind. There is even a famous photo of Beatle Paul McCartney wearing an RAF surplus Irvin while playing with his children. Fashion designers have made their own variations on the classic WWII designs, adding or removing straps, buckles, and pockets, and tweaking the fit or materials as they please. These fashion versions have kept the style accessible as the originals have become museum pieces or worn out from decades of use.
But if you don’t have a C-47 transport plane or a vintage Triumph motorcycle available, how should you wear a shearling jacket? Unlike a lot of military items of clothing, shearling flight jackets don’t have overt military connotations, as few of the originals or their fashion descendants have military insignia on them. Their classic materials mean that sheepskin jackets work with most other pieces of clothing on the more casual side of the spectrum. I wouldn’t suggest wearing one to court or a funeral, but - now that I think of it – a flight jacket over a tuxedo could be a serious power move.
The rugged sheepskin looks perfectly at home with a turtleneck sweater and a pair of jeans, but doesn’t clash with a collared shirt and tie. If your jacket has a roomy cut, you can even throw it on over a tweed sport coat, adding a workwear edge to a more traditional outfit. Sheepskin is also remarkably breathable, and you may be less likely to overheat in a shearling jacket than you’d think. A shearling jacket is an investment, generally costing between 500 and 2000 dollars (or more, for designer labels), but it should last through decades of heavy winter use and come out looking better than ever. It can be the kind of statement piece that intimidates potential owners, but if you get the chance to try one on you may be pleasantly surprised at how you look in it. If you like a piece of clothing you’ll find your own opportunities to wear it, and every fall I look forward to pulling my shearling flight jacket out of the closet – even if I still don’t have the plane to go with it.
Eric Langlois
Eric Langlois is a writer, menswear professional, and history enthusiast based on the North Shore of Massachusetts.
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