Ways to Wear Look Book – The Leather Jacket

As I said the other day when I previewed some of the latest leather jackets to hit the market, I am a massive fan of this item of clothing! Today I wanted to show you a few different ways you can wear the leather jacket, so that you can see that it is easy to pull off a wide amount of different looks. Some people are still scared of the leather jacket, mainly because sometimes it has been associated with men that have thrown on horrible large versions that do not fit and pair them with stone wash jeans or something equally appalling.

It is not hard to pull off a leather jacket though, and no matter what your age it will add an edge and a bit of laid back cool to any outfit. This doesn’t mean we can’t dress it up how we feel though, as I am about to show you below.

So let’s do it…

The Leather Jacket Look Book

For today’s class we are going to be using this beautiful example of a leather jacket from All Saints below. This is because it is in stock, has all sizes still available, and comes in at a great price of £295 – which is very good for a jacket of this quality. Plus it is slim fitting, and has the shoulder panels which is right on trend for military items this year. Of course, you can sub out this item for any of the other leather jackets I previewed before. For example, you might want a hooded version for a laid back casual outfit or a blazer type look for a smart outfit. It’s all about personal preference.

So here are the looks:

Rocker
Who said fashion needs to be hard? This is going to be a really simple outfit that looks amazing because you will be right on trend and have just matched your items well. In this outfit we are going to rock the skinny jeans (here to stay!) in a grey whilst throwing on the bold graphic tee over the top. Throw your jacket on over this simple combination and it takes the look from good to great! Obviously you will want to rock the destroyed Converse or Superga canvas hi tops with this outfit – preferably in a dark colour as well.

It works because the t-shirt contrasts so well with a dark black coloured jacket. Then by offsetting the dark jacket with a grey jean, it means you have a contrast from top to bottom within your outfit. The canvas shoes can be your personal preference but a white or black should work very well within this whole rocker look. Key accessories if you wanted to add them would be rosary beads or maybe a leather cuff as well to really ram the vibe home. A simple but very effective outfit that oozes cool.

On Trend
So Now we are going to knock a look out that is right on trend. With the jacket above you are already hitting military but we want to add in a different trend that is going to be massive – the check shirt! Yes I love the check shirt and the leather jacket, so could it be a match made in heaven? I certainly think so. With this look we are going to use a dark blue indigo jean. You can wear blue and black these days, and it actually looks pretty good. If you saw the leather jacket collection post you will see David Beckham, Zak Efron and the Timberlake rocking the blue jeans with a black jacket. The contrast is great and it really does work very well if the rest of your outfit is quite bold and bright as well.

The best way to create this look would be blue jeans, worker boots in a black colour, plain tee, bold check print shirt (with or without a hood), and then the leather jacket thrown on top. A perfect layered outfit that hits the military and check trends in one. Slim jeans are a must but they shouldn’t really be skinny in this instance. We want to tuck them into the military boots but want to keep some width in the leg for that military/worker vibe as opposed to rocker.

With the t-shirt layering, I would say go for a plain v-neck if you are going to leave the top buttons open on your check shirt, and a crew neck if you are going to do it right up to the top or leave the bottom buttons open.

Relaxed Formal
This look is much more sophisticated and a relaxed formal. Really gives off that whole French Riviera vibe and I think it shows how versatile the leather jacket can be. In this outfit we are not using it to create a really fashion forward look and edge to our look but rather as a smart statement piece that contrasts very well with the other slightly more formal items. We have very clean lines within this outfit with a great pair of smart slim fitting trousers in a grey. This gives the appearance of a formal outfit right from the get go – and this is why we pair these great trousers with an antiqued brown formal shoe.

Where we add the contrast here is through the top half - throw on a light piece of knitwear and then the leather jacket over the top. You can layer up the knitwear however you want… if you wear a cardigan then you can wear a v-neck t-shirt underneath, or if you go for a v-neck knit then you can rock a crew neck underneath or even a shirt/polo shirt. The options are there for you to play with to create your look.

What makes this outfit stand out so much are the lighter colours contrasted with the deep black leather jacket. Also the formal appearance of the bottom is countered by the relaxed formal pieces on top – whilst still maintaining a smart style and an air of wealth/professionalism. Accessorise with a great watch with a leather strap that matches your shoes, not the jacket. Mixing browns and blacks can sometimes be dangerous, but this look definitely WORKS. A man bag or holdall would also be a great way to add something to this outfit without going over the top. If you are in the sun, then sunglasses would definitely round it out with that extra bit of cool.