What links Kanye West, Phoenix Nights’s bouncers Max and Paddy and next season’s menswear collection at Calvin Klein? It’s also been seen on 90s ravers, Steve McQueen and a host of Instagram-friendly off-duty models.
The answer is the MA-1 bomber jacket – and you can see the appeal. The bomber is a wardrobe staple that’s both practical and enough of a blank canvas for generations of style tribes to make their own: it works with trainers or heels, for hip-hop or catwalks. It’s a simple design that’s open to interpretation – solid colours (khaki, black, navy), the punch of the bright orange inner lining, and the satisfying detail of a pocket sewn on the left arm (with bonus points for the least nerdy pen holder ever).
They worked for 90s ravers (typically with a baggy hoody top flipped over the back), and they were one of the centrepieces of Kanye West’s first Yeezy collection; Neneh Cherry made them her own in her Buffalo style days; Ryan Gosling’s silky version in Drive was a style highlight; This is England’s skinheads recalled their darker days; even Steve McQueen wore one for his final film role – The Hunter in 1980.
From trenchcoats to parkas, pea coats to combat pants, there’s a long tradition of military wear being adopted by subcultures and fashion labels, and the bomber jacket is no exception. The originals were, of course, flight jackets – the MA-1 which was designed by the US airforce in the late 1950s as a solution for pilots to wear in bomber planes (hence the name). They were outsourced to Alpha Industries, which has continued to make them ever since, as well as collaborating with labels such as Opening Ceremony, Uniform Experiment and A Bathing Ape for interesting riffs in recent years.
At this year’s men’s shows there were catwalk versions from Burberry London to Calvin Klein, Diesel and Dolce & Gabbana, and they have been adopted by Cara Delevigne, Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid – it’s a staple with unisex crossover appeal.
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