Bombers Away
As you've probably noticed, I have a thing for guys in military clothes, and bomber jackets are no exception. Maybe it's a holdover from a Top Gun obsession in my teenage years, or just that uniform thing I've talked about before. Regardless of whether you look like Tom Cruise--or not!--men look great in all incarnations of the bomber jacket--from the most authentic version worn by the Alaskan Air Force during World War II to edgy downtown reinterpretations created by forward-thinking designers. There are also lots of fabrics nowadays for grounded wingmen to choose from. While I am personally most partial to the teal nylon Army-Navy version with a fur collar, or the straight-out-of-the-war-photo shearling version, I do in fact like most kinds I've seen on the street and online, including Axl Rose's leather version (complete with Guns N' Roses logo) from the nineties.
I like this down puffer / bomber jacket combo - it's a sporty, but warm, look for winter. Noho, NY, January 2008.
Musician Alex James wears a real bomber jacket at a photo shoot in London in 2004. He was bass player for the English rock band, Blur, and he is also my next-door neighbor at our house in England. (Photo: Getty)
This dude--and his leather jacket--look pretty hard-core. His great smile shows that his toughness is only exterior. Madison Ave, NYC, February 2008.
Robin Williams at Beverly Hills High School for a celebrity basketball game, wearing a silk bomber jacket, 1979. I love the buttons! (Photo: Getty)
This is my favorite bomber jacket--I love the color and the fur collar. You can find it at most Army Navy stores. My husband has the same one, but its a longer version--good for the coldest days of winter. East Sixty-first Street, NYC, February 2008.
I thought I'd seen almost every photo of James Dean. There are so few of them they've almost all become cliché. So was thrilled to find this one of him--in a bomber no less!--on the set of Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, a CBS show. 1955. (Photo: Getty)
This is the most luxe version of a bomber jacket that I have seen--you can tell from looking it at in a photo that it was probably very expensive. I like that the style is pretty much old-school. But the suede, as opposed to leather, is a nice surprise. Madison Avenue, NYC, February 2008.
World War II flight crew lands at an Alaskan air base in shearling jackets. Aleutian Islands, 1943. (Photo: Getty)
Well, the bomber shape and proportion are there, but the styling is all new. East Eleventh Street, NYC, November 2007.
When I was a teenager, my stepdad had a bomber jacket just like Dennis Quaid's (on a film set in 2004), and I spent my early high school years wearing it to school. I felt pretty cool. (Photo: Corbis)
Black leather usually looks pretty severe--but this guy's chunky scarf and light colored T-shirt tone it down. Bleecker Street, NYC, December 2007.
Axl Rose with Guns N' Roses bomber jacket, 1989. (Photo: Corbis)
I love the styling of this guy's coat. The pocket design and collar snaps are excellent details. I actually like the whole outfit, although I am resisting the goatee. Mott Street, NYC, January 2008.
Charlton Heston, doing his best to look tough, in 1955. (Photo: Corbis)
Emile Hirsch (star of Into the Wild) in a pared-down black nylon bomber. Toronto Film Festival, 2007. (Photo: Wireimage)
US WWII cold weather B-3 flight jackets are nice but I've always thought the puffiness of the shearling made them look a little odd except on a bomber crew. Personally, I also am not a fan of the two tone colour scheme that the classic B-3 jacket has, if I was to get a shearling jacket i'd probably get a Irvin jacket, the RAF's equivalent cold weather WWII flight jacket. It is styled very similarly but didn't have the mix and match appearance of the B-3.