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Acceptable leather jackets for professional settings?

cuchulain

Familiar Face
Messages
95
So judging by these pictures, the consensus seems to be only Italians and Japanese can pull off the mythical leather blazer?
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,060
Location
London, UK
leather%20suits.jpg

I rather like the colour of that hide on the third from the left. I don't think any of these outfits would be quite my personal choice,but you can't argue with the practicality of a wipe-clean lounge suit.
 

tropicalbob

My Mail is Forwarded Here
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3,954
Location
miami, fl
I rather like the colour of that hide on the third from the left. I don't think any of these outfits would be quite my personal choice,but you can't argue with the practicality of a wipe-clean lounge suit.

WADR, with that logic we might as well just wear rubber macs all the time. The shot above is conceptually interesting, but I don't think it's an idea whose time has come (been wrong before). The previous pic of the guy with the black jacket and white hat is more like what you usually see: he looks like he's selling spare baby organs.
Getting back to the OP's question, I think Superfluous hit it on the head: there are just some jobs in which, because of the importance of credibility (ethos), you simply have to dress the part. When I was a compliance officer on Wall Street, it was my job to travel around and walk into other people's offices on Monday mornings (unannounced, of course). I had to determine whether or not the people working there were following the laws or the rules of the various exchanges by going through their files, interviewing each of them, including and especially the management, and then writing up my report. There was a section of the report in which I had to assess sales practices and management style. It didn't take me long to find out that when I had to make negative comments, no matter how much documentation I provided, people would lash out in all sorts of ways, including making personal comments about me. So I learned to be very careful about what I said and to be absolutely professional in my approach to the job. A big part of that was to dress impeccably and generally have my act together: nothing fancy, but I was usually better dressed than most of the people I was interviewing. I came to feel it was part of my armor. Just as I couldn't afford to have grammatical, spelling, or mathematical mistakes in my reports, neither could I have wrinkles in my suits or stains on my tie.
 
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Smithy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,139
Location
Norway
Blazer - maybe not - leather coat, yes but it is subjective -

John Sim in Life on Mars
Brad Pitt in Fightlub and Killing Them Softly

My guilty (and completely off-topic for TFL) pleasure is these kinds of jackets, not blazers but 60s and 70s coats/car coats. I pick them up for a song on the Bay - especially compared to 30s/40s/50s stuff - but as I said, completely off topic for a Golden Era forum like here and certainly not right for most professional settings. But I wear them a lot, and enjoy them just as much as my more 1930s/1940s jackets/coats. My wife likes them even more than my more vintage styled jackets which makes it easier to justify when I've bought another one ;-)
 

Seb Lucas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,562
Location
Australia
My guilty (and completely off-topic for TFL) pleasure is these kinds of jackets, not blazers but 60s and 70s coats/car coats. I pick them up for a song on the Bay - especially compared to 30s/40s/50s stuff - but as I said, completely off topic for a Golden Era forum like here and certainly not right for most professional settings. But I wear them a lot, and enjoy them just as much as my more 1930s/1940s jackets/coats. My wife likes them even more than my more vintage styled jackets which makes it easier to justify when I've bought another one ;-)

I share that guilty pleasure.
 

Smithy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,139
Location
Norway
I share that guilty pleasure.

Seb, it's always nice to find another partner in crime but I suspect you and I are the exception rather than the rule round these parts for jackets like these ;)

Hope you're in for some decent jacket weather soon - was just on the phone with my best mate and he said the weather has been bloody awful.
 

Seb Lucas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,562
Location
Australia
Seb, it's always nice to find another partner in crime but I suspect you and I are the exception rather than the rule round these parts for jackets like these ;)

Hope you're in for some decent jacket weather soon - was just on the phone with my best mate and he said the weather has been bloody awful.



Yep it's been sweltering and humid - like Cairo, but without the charm.

Any car coat makers you recommend from this not so golden period?
 

zebedee

One Too Many
Messages
1,897
Location
Shanghai
I'd get a cordovan car coat I own copied in slightly hardier leather if I could. I'd look like a bookie, but I wouldn't give a monkey's. It's garnered more compliments than any of my Aeros.
 

Smithy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,139
Location
Norway
Any car coat makers you recommend from this not so golden period?

There's lots of the usual suspects, even Schotts, Sears, etc. As you'll know the quality ranges drastically. Although I got the best one I've had yet off the Bay last month, dark russet, truly beautiful leather (steerhide I think) with a nice light patina and absolutely the perfect fit. Unfortunately like a lot of them out there it's missing the makers label so I wouldn't have a clue who made it.
 

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