There aren’t many men in the world who haven’t fancied themselves to look as slick as Tyler Durden from ‘Fight Club’ or trendsetter Al Pacino in ‘Carlito’s Way’. Some of the most popular users of jackets are fans of either bikers or bombers. However, long leather coats with collars, sometimes fur collars, are a generation’s legacy and still a favorite to many.
These jackets belong to the most iconic style category that many great characters and actors have featured on the big screen. Let’s look at some of the slinky collared jackets of those times in action. These are jackets that even peers on set tried to replicate but failed. Jackets that stirred up commercial sales all over the world.
Jackie Cogan
Jackie Cogan: Played by Brad Pitt, a character that is easy and friendly to approach but is quite enigmatic. Everything in the movie that has to do with the character was designed to be black. While it was an intentional choice that favored the movie’s plot, Mr. Pitt topped it off by using his wardrobe quite a bit, including the iconic black ‘Killing Them Softly’ leather jacket.
This masterpiece of an outfit not only supremely complemented the storytelling but stirred up quite a raging interest among audiences. What’s more surprising is that the movie’s costume designer, Patricia Norris, found Pitt’s jacket to be a better choice than something she ever would’ve chosen or designed for the role. It made her try to find replicas locally but saw no success.
Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden: If there’s one outfit that has engendered so much replica crazy, that would be Tyler Durden’s reddish leather jacket which contradicts the imaginary character’s ideas in favor of rejecting modern consumerism. Once again, we are looking at a widely popular outfit sported by Brad Pitt in the movie ‘Fight Club’. Coincidence or not ( we don’t want to become a spoiler for those who haven’t watched Fight Club yet.
Although it’s hard for someone not to have watched this movie.), the character wears the same vintage collared jacket throughout the movie. It represents the distressed and depressed commoner’s imagination of what an ideal man would be wearing. That’s huge acclaim for an outfit that doesn’t happen often. It’s almost like wearing a suit and getting 007 compliments.
Carlito
Carlito: No man has ever donned a long hip-length leather jacket better than Carlito Brigante played by none other than Al Pacino in the 1993 mob flick ‘Carlito’s Way.’. This type of men’s long leather jacket was very common in the 1970s.
It significantly resembles trench coats used during war times. However, in many’s opinions, this type of jacket also gives out a distinctive formal outlook in contrast to regular bomber or biker jackets that more or less radiate a young and casual vibe.
Officer K
Officer K: Played by Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner 2049, the sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 science fiction film ‘Blade runner.’ Officer K’s costume design was heavily influenced by the overall ambiance and the character’s environments throughout the film. After studying the screenplay, costume designer Denis Villeneuve said that the look of the coat formed almost immediately in her mind.
She developed a tough-looking brown men’s leather jacket with fur collars meant to sustain any element that it would be exposed to. This type of long coat jacket design is reminiscent of the 70s style mob jacket we discussed earlier. Even Harrison Ford, who plays the lead in the original Blade Runner, sported a long coat throughout the movie.
Matrix Trilogy
Matrix Trilogy: An unavoidable mention while discussing long leather coats or jackets would be the Matrix trilogy. The production costumed almost every important character in these movies with exceptionally designed and fitting leather long coats, including the protagonist ‘Neo’ played by Keanu Reeves.
The matrix design, too, popularly created a replica frenzy out in the market. However, its highly distinctive appeal would prove to be overkill for many. Regardless, several leather jacket designs have been inspired by these and made subtly to suit public use without attracting unwanted attention.
