For me the BLJ occupies a really special place in my psyche. It represents the rebel within that I cannot quite fully release. It takes me right back to my teenage years and the music I loved, punk rock. Anyone who wore a leather jacket could look cool. Well perhaps not anyone. For example, Brad Pitt is struggling here.
And these guys used to look cool but whatever happened to them?
It reminds me of all those strong female musicians of the last Century, like Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders)
Joan Jet from the Runnaways,
The Slits,
Gaye Advert,
Patti Smith, Debbie Harry,
And Suzie Quatro, who had her first number 1 in 1973 with Can the Can.
And all the really cool boys wore them too. The bands, the rock artists all looked so cool in their BLJs. It represents strength, and although they are all much the same, there is something individual about a BLJ.
The Ramones
The Clash
Lou Reed
Bruce Sprinsteen
Johnny Thunders
On the face of it, they are similar in style, but they mould to the body of their wearer and can be customised in either ostentatious or very minimal ways.
A man in a BLJ is way too cool for school and a woman in a BLJ can take on the world and not just this one.
Since the age of 17 I’ve always owned a leather jacket. It is hidden away in my wardrobe and I am ashamed to say rarely gets worn, but it reminds me of the inner me, le rebelle sans cause!
I remember searching the markets of Camden for my first leather jacket, it had to be perfect and then I found it in the Freeman’s catalogue (anyone remember these) in the days before the Internet.
It was tiny and made of really soft black leather with all the right details and I loved it. Then I loaned it to a friend and it got stolen.
My next BLJ had an eighties style to it as did the next one, which was thick and heavy and way oversized, as worn in those days. Then more recently I purchased another BLJ very similar to my first one.
It must have been out of the wardrobe all of 3 times. It is quite simply a crime and must be rectified as soon as this blog is complete.
There is no doubt that the BLJ is a cultural icon. Historically it hails from across the pond. Favoured by US police for its waterproof and protective qualities.
Marlon Brando in The Wild One
It became the ultimate symbol of cool in the 50’s being worn by the likes of Marlon Brando in “The Wild One” a 1953 outlaw biker film, directed by Laszlow Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. Brando played the iconic gang leader Johnny Strabler.
James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause
James Dean confirmed its coolness in Rebel Without a Cause, a 1955 American film about emotionally confused middle class teenagers, directed by Nicholas Ray.
And later it became the uniform of bikers and Hells Angels.
It was cool way back in the day, worn by style icons like Nancy Cunard and her Barbaric look ivory African bangles.
Today BLJ’s are inextricably linked with Heavy Metal, Glam Rock, Punk Rock, Rock n Roll, the list goes on, 
Madonna,
Lady Ga Ga.
Anyone who wants to add a little bit of cool to their wardrobe simply rocks up to the party in a BLJ. Andy Warhol did
.
When the TV shows and films of the 70’s and 80’s depicted life in the 50’s and 60’s, they used the BLJ, The T-Birds in ‘Grease’ and
The Fonze in ‘Happy days’ are examples of this.
The BLJ was the subject of a book published in 1985 and written by Mick Farren, chronicling its history over a seventy year period up to the mid 1980s. “The black leather jacket has always been the uniform of the bad.” He sites Hitler’s Gestapo, the Black Panthers, punk rockers and the Hell’s Angels.
And we all remember Arnold Schwarzernegger in The Terminator, when he steels the biker’s outfit from the Hell’s Angels in the cafe bar at the beginning of the film.
The BLJ is clearly an icon of the cool but sometimes I would like to think it all started with a cold female biker back in 1949.
Bakelitebabe 