Leather jackets on TV shows - Goat or Lamb?

[gtdean48]

I've noticed some jackets on 2 specific TV shows lately that seem to be very thin goat or lamb.
Both a cafe racer style. One show is Chicago PD & other is The Dig.
The Chicago PD jacket seems awfully thin for the character to be wearing as main outerwear for Chicago winter.
Stylish but no warmth whatsoever. It does seem like a few characters are into leather jackets & freezing...

The Dig jacket is worn by the Israeli detective & again is very thin as well. Drapes like lamb or a thin goat.
Not sure why the character is wearing it when the FBI agent is always in shirt sleeves. It surely doesn't conceal his side arm.
I know wardrobe depts go for the fashionable but cool looking garments.
I loved the jacket Dennis Leary wore on Rescue Me.
It seemed to be suitable for a Boston fall but definitely not this past winter....

This bugs me like how the vintage TV westerns had hats, clothing, leather goods, & guns totally "Hollywood" = anachronisms.
With shows like "period" shows like North & South & Lonesome Dove, they went for authentic looks which doesn't distract from the product.
My wife says to "suspend my disbelief" but it does degrade the quality of the program because I'm questioning the intelligence of the character...JMHO

 

[pawineguy]

I've noticed some jackets on 2 specific TV shows lately that seem to be very thin goat or lamb.
Both a cafe racer style. One show is Chicago PD & other is The Dig.
The Chicago PD jacket seems awfully thin for the character to be wearing as main outerwear for Chicago winter.
Stylish but no warmth whatsoever. It does seem like a few characters are into leather jackets & freezing...

The Dig jacket is worn by the Israeli detective & again is very thin as well. Drapes like lamb or a thin goat.
Not sure why the character is wearing it when the FBI agent is always in shirt sleeves. It surely doesn't conceal his side arm.
I know wardrobe depts go for the fashionable but cool looking garments.
I loved the jacket Dennis Leary wore on Rescue Me.
It seemed to be suitable for a Boston fall but definitely not this past winter....

This bugs me like how the vintage TV westerns had hats, clothing, leather goods, & guns totally "Hollywood" = anachronisms.
With shows like "period" shows like North & South & Lonesome Dove, they went for authentic looks which doesn't distract from the product.
My wife says to "suspend my disbelief" but it does degrade the quality of the program because I'm questioning the intelligence of the character...JMHO

It's an interesting take and I have to agree with you. What colors the way we look at TV and movies is our area of expertise. I look at jackets and guns, and as you noted, too often jackets seem to come right from a fashion house though the wardrobe department, and look totally out of place. Perhaps that's why when someone wears a proper leather jacket, it gets so much attention. My wife was thoroughly annoyed by my constant obsession with the leather jacket in The Grand Budapest Hotel, and my hitting the pause button to check it out... Admittedly it WAS from a fashion house, but it was perfect for the character and looked like something he should be seen in.

I remember looking for information on that Rescue Me jacket. In pictures it looks really old, and not just made by the wardrobe guys to look old, but like a 40 year old horsehide jacket that he probably actually owned. The one front pocket was always open, looked like the zipper might have been broken.

 

[navetsea]

I don't follow both, but I dig the costume in Da Vinci's Demons


found this picture... wow is he wearing shoulder pad in his jacket?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I've notice Leary wearing that same 'Rescue Me' jacket on several talk shows in the past. Leads me to believe it is his own personal Cafe jacket.
HD

 

[Mark Ricketts]

You notice what you care about.
For me an out of place jacket is much less important than glaring anachronisms. My two favourite were both in Russell Crowe films. In Master and Commander he has a contemporary of Nelson talking about Nelson with an eye patch. In Gladiator he gallops his horse from Germany to Spain to turn up at an arable field with tramlines going through it.
After things like that, poor costume choices are unimportant.

 

[pawineguy]

I've notice Leary wearing that same 'Rescue Me' jacket on several talk shows in the past. Leads me to believe it is his own personal Cafe jacket.
HD

I suspect that's often the case when we see a really great jacket on TV.

 

[gtdean48]

I suspect that's often the case when we see a really great jacket on TV.

Tim Allen on Last Man Standing has worn a nice leather jacket but sitcom is set in Denver suburb.
Tim's looks like a Aero style.

Yep, character in Chicago PD does have padded shoulder jacket. Other character has a leather "Members Only" looking jacket.

 

[oneterrifichog]

Why can't they wear some horse or thick goat? TV drives me crazy anyway but I have yet to see one super hero in anything except Lamb. Now the Captain America Movie at least they went for something Real. Same with quite a few other films like Red Tails; but TV "must be Lamb"....bloody Mall Jackets.

 

[Monitor]

I've noticed some jackets on 2 specific TV shows lately that seem to be very thin goat or lamb.

Or vinyl. And that's more often than you think, actually. Most serious productions will have several versions of the same jacket made from different materials, and will switch the jackets according to what it looks like on the camera. But yeah, it's usually very thin hides for the TV shows and movies.

 

[OneEyeMan]

What bugs me the most is that not 1 leather jacket I've ever seen in TV or movies is ever zippered/buttoned!

 

[Seb Lucas]

Most film and TV jackets are bought off the rack by a costume designer so they are thick or thin depending on what maker they choose.

For jackets made especially for movies they are more likely to be a lighter weight cowhide judging by the Film Jackets website. Probably the most common hide for leather jackets in the wider world.

Since most jackets are from fashion labels makers are less likely to be as thick as Aero. A thick jacket under film lights in a studio is very uncomfortable. The most obvious thick bike jacket I can think of is the House Vanson model B which Hugh Laurie wore on that series.

Denis Leary has been wearing his light steerhide Brooks cafe racer since he filmed By the Sea with Sandra Bullock in the mid 1990's. He clearly loves cafe racer styles and wears many versions similar to the Brooks.

 

[Doctor Strange]

If you were standing under ten-thousand-watt lighting for hours at a stretch, you wouldn't want to wear heavy leather either... or zip it!

That's a very good reason for making film/TV wardrobe out of thin lambskin, even if it means making lots of identical garments to survive wear and (especially for lambskin) tear.

 

[tropicalbob]

I wonder if it has something more to do with product placement.

 

[Monitor]

I've noticed that Belstaff sleeve metal logo in recent movies more times than I care to remember.

 

[navetsea]

I remember this character in Gotham always wear somekind of leather jacket or coat too, but from this screenshot I'm not sure if it is even leather, or if it is leather then he just bought it less than a day, zero set in creases

in another shot it seems more leather but very thin too


the Catwoman/girl character also always wear leather jacket, predistressed and wired fashion jacket, look at her collar, obviously not from thrifting as her character suggests

 

[Edward]

Studio lights often necessitate lighter hides, also shooting locations. Lamb was chosen for the original Indy jacket because it was to be worn in the African sun while shooting on location. Also, they may be shooting out of season - it's far from uncommon to be shooting a Summer scene on a birght but cold Spring day, or a Winter scene in mid-July..... in the latter, a large coat which is actually very thin and light would be a Godsend...

Worth noting, too, that cheaper, lighter jackets keep the overall spend down. Ultimately, it's just costume which has to be brought in within a certain budget. Multiple copies are to cover for stand-ins and to ensure that, in the event of damage to a jacket, they're not stumped for continuity if the model is no longer in production. (Typically there'll be one hero jacket, and whole bunch of others for longshots, stunts, and such). A light, cheap hide starts to make a lot of sense when you throw all these elements into the mix.

 

[gtdean48]

Ori Pfiffer plays the Israeli detective in Dig.
Not a good shot of him in the jacket but in episode I watched he actually zipped it up...
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2303783424/tt3597606?ref_=ttmi_mi_all_sf_21

 

[Monitor]

Looks like a HD or AMF cafe racer jacket, one of the Buco J100 copies.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Worth noting, too, that cheaper, lighter jackets keep the overall spend down. Ultimately, it's just costume which has to be brought in within a certain budget. Multiple copies are to cover for stand-ins and to ensure that, in the event of damage to a jacket, they're not stumped for continuity if the model is no longer in production. (Typically there'll be one hero jacket, and whole bunch of others for longshots, stunts, and such). A light, cheap hide starts to make a lot of sense when you throw all these elements into the mix.

Perhaps that applies to a lower budget shoot. Spending a few thousand on a dozen jackets isn't going to be an issue where they are spending millions overall. And if it's a branded jacket, the jackets are often supplied free. I think overall the average person prefers a lighter leather jacket. That's certainly been my experience. And when they've seen or held my Aero FQHH they ususally think it's too heavy.

 

[navetsea]

and perhaps, wearing a brand new thick leather jacket would look tackier for the character, compared to thin jacket that can immediately look broken in with little effort.