One lesson I've learned from my eight and a half year search for style is that style preconceptions are often wrong. I've never worn a denim jacket and assumed I never would. However, a post on Instagram (link below) produced much interest and a comment by menswear writer Eric Musgrave prompted a search for a particular jacket, the Lee Storm Rider (Lee 101LJ). I found a vintage (probably seventies) example and loved it so much that I hunted down two more Lee jackets, the 101J and 100J - from which you can tell that in the space of a lockdown week I'd become a denim enthusiast.
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| Three vintage Lee denim jackets, Rider 101J (70s), Storm Rider 101LJ (70s?), Westerner 100J (60s) |
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| The blanket-lined Lee Storm Rider (70s?) |
The story of the denim jacket is largely an American one, although workwear cotton twill was a specialism of English cotton mills from the eighteenth century. Denim's American origins lie in the mid to late nineteenth century when Levi Strauss started his business producing overalls and jeans from riveted denim. Rivals Wrangler and Lee appeared in the early decades of the last century.
With its origins as durable work wear, denim was adopted by industrial and farm workers and this rugged image attracted a popular following from the fifties. The jeans and the cropped denim blousons so loved by cowboys became badges of youth and cool, being worn by many music and Hollywood stars, among them Kirk Douglas, Elvis Presley, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. And women wore them too - Marilyn Monroe wearing her Lee Storm Rider jacket in The Misfits.
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| Marilyn Monroe in The Misfits in a Lee Storm Rider |
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| Paul Newman in the Lee Storm Rider |
The two main players for denim jackets were Levi Strauss & Co. with the Trucker and H. D. Lee with the 101J Rider and Storm Rider (a blanket-lined version for colder weather). Levi's produced their first denim blouson in 1905 and Lee followed in 1931. Other brands soon copied the basic blouson pattern with two breast pockets and (coming later) two additional hand-warmer pockets. This style has endured, fuelled by its workwear and celebrity wearer history. Of course denim jackets come in other styles too, but that's another story.
The founding brands like Levi's and Lee still make essentially the same models as those introduced early in the last century. The rise of Japanese denim brands and the elevation of the cloth to luxury fashion status hasn't altered the basic appearance of most denim garments. They are still worn as workwear, particularly in the US, but are also worn by the rich and the less so, by the cool and fashionable and the less so. Jeans and denim jackets have become classics of men's and women's wear.
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| Styling a denim jacket |
Some associate the denim blouson with hardened denim dudes wearing double denim and agitating over the minutiae of denim manufacture and construction. But mixed with more formal and tailored styles the denim jacket can come into its own. Style your jacket, however new or battered, with chinos or tailored trousers, shirt (and even a tie) or roll neck and brogues or loafers and you achieve a smart casual look where garments at opposite poles of the style spectrum surprisingly complement each other.
Whatever you do don't, as I did until recently, write off the denim jacket, particularly if you're older. Your age has nothing to do with it: denim has been around longer than anyone alive. A word of warning though, it's easy to get sucked into the world of vintage denim. It's a sustainable way of buying clothes and nothing beats a naturally patinated denim garment (pre-distressed denim is a cheat), but that way obsession lies.
I bought two of my jackets from Rokit vintage and I recommend them; they seem to know what they are talking about. The third, a seventies Lee Rider, I bought on eBay where you need to know what you're looking for to be sure of a bargain.
As you move back through the sixties and earlier, jackets become rare and increasingly costly. Dating isn't straightforward so be very cautious about the claimed dates of jackets on sale. Some advice about history and dating can be found online and this is often very helpful (see here for example) but, as with any information found online, don't treat it as gospel.
Reading: history and style inspiration: There are many books on denim and its history. These are the books I've used:
Denim Dudes - Amy Leverton
Denim Style - Horst A. Friedrichs
The Fashion Resource Book: Men - Robert Leach
Icons of Men's Style - Josh Sims
See also the Instagram post which started off my interest and in which I asked, 'Would you wear a denim jacket?'
See also Menswear Classics 1: The Overcoat
