What if Irving Schott, owner of the fashion house Schott Bros in the 30s, hadn’t smoked Perfectos; what name would have been given to his famous motorcycle jacket, originally meant to protect biker boys and other road warriors?
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In the 70s, the Perfecto jacket was first adopted by rockers, then became a rallying point for the fading punk generation: the jacket’s leather was just as indestructible as their fierce assertions; the motorcycle jacket became the raw and spontaneous expression of a time and space that was far from conventional.
Thirty years later? Fashion designers who are a bit more conventional but no less imaginative have adopted the motorcycle jacket; Balenciaga, at the forefront after the brand’s revolutionary “barrel line” and casually diminished “baby doll” hemline, purified the jacket to make it more of a complete package. Certain original elements such as the passants on the shoulders and the diagonal zipper on the front were preciously conserved.
More chic, more feminine, and above all meticulously restrained, the Balenciaga version reigns supreme: the fashion world has been eating it up like candy for 5 years now! There are certain pieces that transcend history, that transcend the flow of time, and are able to adapt and rebound from any and every defeat. When fashion pioneers got sick of the motorcycle jacket’s “bad boy” vibe, Nicholas Ghesquière (creative director for Balenciaga) only needed a few years to turn things around and make the jacket a prerogative for women in search of a less feminine fashion alternative. The brand’s muses – Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kate Moss, and more recently, Alexa Chung – were the instigators of this shake-up; the tomboy look would come soon after and rough up even the most feminine of outfits. Rock ‘n’ roll and fashion: the perfect equation. Balenciaga and leather: equal perfection. Pure beauty.
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