It’s often totally weird where fashion trends emerge from. Thinking about the one item of men’s clothing that sums up the message of this season for me- the one thing that, if you pushed me, I’d say was the most on-trend, directional, must-have (yadda yadda), it’d be the bomber jacket.
What we’re talking specifically about is the MA-1, a bomber-baseball jacket hybrid first created in the 50s to keep pilots warm. It’s an iconic piece of clothing, available across the world at every price point. But there is something in them that chimes with this season; something about the puffy volume, tempered by the fitted cuffs and hems. The zig-zag, quilted placket and knitted baseball collar of the MA-1 jacket are two details that fit in with the 90s utilitarian mood of certain collections.
Check leather bomber by Fred Perry Blank Canvas x Stussy from colette.
But what matters most about the bomber jacket’s resurgence is an actual move away from the tailoring that’s dominated over the past few seasons. True, short casual blousons have been a key motif in men’s fashion for the past decade or so, and most of us have probably worn or owned one at some point. But this season the look turns minimal. There’s actually always been something monastic about the bomber jacket, with its clean lines and function-over-form details; it works best if you imagine it worn with a flowing t-shirt and silk trousers and sandals underneath, almost as if some tribe of monks had recovered one from the wreckage of a crashed plane and taken to wearing them over their robes.
It’s a point made eloquently by Miharayasuhiro in his SS 09 collection, featuring dip-dyed and washed takes on MA-1 and A-2 jackets worn with crinkly trousers and sandals – an homage to Joseph Beuys, the artist who made a career out of his backstory as a crashed Luftwaffe pilot, rescued by Tataric nomads (let’s ignore the fact that the MA-1 bomber jacket was an American invention). If that sounds over-romantic, then it’s perhaps the spirit of how to wear a bomber jacket this season. Just like DM’s, braces and turned-up drainpipes, they can be liberated from a murky skinhead past and reclaimed as good, functional and forward-thinking design.
Raf Simons SS 10.
Raf Simons has always understood the past and future of this iconic piece of clothing and some of his earliest collections feature takes on the MA-1 jacket, complete with the trademark neon orange (reversible) lining that was originally designed to help locate down pilots. This summer, his are some of the most distinctive versions around, with name taping and a panel of multicoloured zips. Topman Design also took a brave step forward and followed this line, with leather and silk versions that look way beyond the highstreet for inspiration. J.W. Anderson played with volume and added huge zips, and Christopher Shannon’s came hand-made and constructed from panels of mesh and jersey for a futuristic, sports take.
J.W. Anderson SS 10.
Topman Design SS 10.
It’s the easiest look; throw over a t-shirt, add some skinny trousers (ideally cropped), a pair of socks, a pair of low shoes or sneakers and maybe a piece of jewellery or two. Keep the colours simple so everything can focus on the shapes; sharp and precise as a military drill, and subtle and pure as those pesky monks. Is it too much to think that the bomber jacket, with all its connotations of war, its wearability, simplicity, its democratic fit, could become the blazer of the twenty-first century?
