For anyone currently attempting to navigate the new-in sections in search of a staple to see you through the year ahead, it’s likely that a leather shirt isn’t anywhere on your radar, let alone your shopping list. But it should be.
Because as ridiculous as the idea of a shirt made of leather being anything more than a frivolous fashion purchase may seem, it’s poised to become the best investment you’ll make this spring.
When shirting specialist Equipment introduced its Fanette leather style on Net-a-Porter last month, it sold out in one day. While stocks of the mushroom-brown shirt have now been refreshed, they are already running low — and it’s the same story on the site for its black leather twin, Brett.
Key to its appeal is its construction. Because while the leather is luxurious, it’s also lightweight, supple and slightly stretchy. Not the stiff, hardened stuff capable of withstanding a lifetime spent atop a motorbike, but one designed with tucking into jeans and sitting at a desk in mind.
Such super-soft and surprisingly wearable incarnations of the trend are also to be found via Italian house Bottega Veneta, which offers a reassuringly expensive, short-sleeved, box-fit shirt crafted from paper-thin Nappa leather. Brit brand Joseph currently has both an oversized black leather overshirt for spring, and a new utilitarian version in white coming soon for summer.
For a bigger statement, Ganni’s black leather shirt features a cropped fit and balloon sleeves, while ethically minded shoppers may have their heads turned by the vegan leather version from insider favourite Nanushka. The latter — a simple menswear-inspired shirt made from butter-soft, black faux-leather — has found a home within the label’s Classics collection alongside camel coats and signature puffer jackets, suggesting that the style’s appeal will endure well beyond one season.
Certainly, the leather shirt’s often elevated price tag is justified in its versatility. Nanushka suggests wearing its version either on its own or layered over a basic tee, while Equipment’s cult buy is styled over a chunky, tonal rollneck.
Give it a few more weeks, when spring has fully settled in, and the leather shirt will also prove the perfect outerwear substitute. Mango’s new metallic silver style — due to land in stores any day now — looks just as good layered over a T-shirt and jeans as it does over a pastel-coloured slip dress, while Topshop’s design-led Boutique line has two lovely leather shirts which are a dream to layer.
Try the first — a contrast-stitch black bowling shirt with a nipped-in waist — with a printed silk skirt or selvedge jeans and lived-in high-tops. Style the second — an off-white ovoid-sleeve version — with stonewash wide-leg denim.
Or better still, with matching leather trousers.
