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Some prefer leather
You want a jacket that stands the test of time, which will look good with any outfit, something that is smart but not too formal, yet cool and understated, then you need the coolest jacket in town, the leather jacket.
Leather Jackets appeared on the scene in the early 1900′s and were created for the aviation industry, hence the term “bomber Jackets” they were incredibly touch yet comfortable to wear and adopted as part of the uniform as pilots which would have to sit in open propeller planes. Due to the air pressure and temperature jackets incorporated sheepskin and fleece to keep the pilots warm.
Longer jackets were worn by the Russian Army to protect them from the cold winters.
The Leather jacket became iconic during the 20th century and was linked with the bright lights of Hollywood. Actors such as Jimmy Stewart and James Dean raised the popularity of the leather jacket. It became the seen in item to wear if you owned a motor bike, such as the Fonz from happy days and the T Birds in the musical film, Grease! Being leather, it was great protection against the elements when you were flying along the roads on your motorbike. Bomber Jackets became fashionable due to the film Top Gun and almost everyone had some style of leather jacket.
Over the past 50 years, Leather Jackets have been synonymous with bikers, such as the hells angels, which adorn their jackets with patches and logos. Punks, Goths, and Emo’s created a look which seemed quite intimidating, and recent films such as the Matrix bought long length leather jackets back into fashion.
Today you will find a brilliant array of leather jackets from biker styles to cropped, military, formal and bomber jackets, they are definitely something to have in your wardrobe, and really scream cool if you are dress in the correct attire.
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The meaning of a coat
It’s quite an ambiguous title but funnily enough, you wouldn’t necessarily know that certain uniforms and styles in the armed forces dictate their rank. Now, my brother is in the RAF and is a Flight Lieutenant. When he’s at work, service men below his rank salute him, and above his rank he salutes, how does he know whom to salute? From the uniform they wear.
The RAF Uniform is mainly Blue Grey or Wedgewood Blue.
Depending on your rank and what duties you have to partake in, there are a number of different uniforms.
The Number 1 is the service dress, worn on formal and ceremonial occasions.
The Number 2 range is the Service working dress, and then you will find ground working dress, air duty dress, Mess Dress, which is very formal, and Full Dress which now a days is only worn by the RAF bands men. The system of different clothing items could be quite complicated for your average Joe.
When it comes to hierarchy, it is based on the number of stripes on the lower arm of your jacket, you can find out more about the ranking orders here.
The RAF uniform is one of the oldest and hardly changed when it comes to the armed forces. It was introduced in 1918 when the RAF became an independent service. The jackets are made from thick heavy wool. They are matched with a belt and leather gloves, not forgetting the hat, trousers and boots.
So the next time you see a man or woman in uniform, if they are displaying a lot of finery or stripes or medals or badges, they are probably very important or high up. I’m not sure if this works with cub scouts, but it does mean they have achieved a lot.
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Throwing some shapes
When it comes to fashion, you can improve your look simply by taking on board your body shape, and focusing on your best parts to draw attention away from the parts you don’t particularly like or are conscious of.
Apparently, these days there are 12 different types of body shape
You have your Apple, which is rounded around the middle, Pear which is bottom heavy, hourglass which is curved and nips in at the waist, I could go on with the newer versions, but you can find your shape here: Trinny and Susannah reveal 12 women’s body types – which are you?
If you’re an Apple shape and looking for a new coat, you may need something to hide the roundness of your middle. Apples should look for jackets with a V Neck, button details, a tailored classic will look fab, avoid big baggy boxy type coats.
Pears go for coats with big collars maybe fur, detail at the top like bell sleeves and bright colours. Smaller lapels will narrow your top half even more.
Hourglass has to high light the nip in the waist with belted coats like trench coats, button jackets that do up under the bust look fab and so do little Jackie O style cropped Jackets!
These are just a few ideas, if you need some more inspiration there are plenty of sites online.
There are coats for every occasion from Weddings to work, from summer to snow, and everything in between in a variety of fabrics, styles and shapes.
If you need something that looks cool, is warm and would look good on any shape, invest in a Montgomery Duffle Coat. This way there is no messing about, hours are not wasted going around the shops and they come in a beautiful array of colours for men and women. These coats are timeless classics and look great on everyone.
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Away for the weekend
Back to work today, after yet another great British Bank Holiday. Ahem.
I know a lot of friends and family decided to jet off and travel to spend the bank holiday in a different area, I on the other hand stayed put and did a spot of sightseeing and DIY, after all, that’s what bank holidays were made for.
Don’t get me wrong I would love to have jetted off, and in fact, it got me thinking about the next weekend I could go and discover something new. What I love to do is trawl the flights to see where is incredibly cheap. So next weekend, If I wasn’t looking after a friend’s house, I could visit Dublin for £9.99 or Riga for £15.99. Now the trick with these flights is to keep the cost as low as possible, which means taking hand luggage and one thing that really bugs me, and that I’ve been meaning to purchase for a long time, is a weekend bag. I have survived up until now with a range of rucksacks and large handbags but I really would like a weekend bag. You see these stunning women sauntering down the aisle with YSL weekend bags and the like, but honestly, that isn’t for me.
What I have found though is a beautiful yet simple canvas weekend bag from Duffle Coats UK.
I think this orange Large Weekend Bag is stunning, and it does remind me of a high fashion designer who produces a similar bag.
In addition, the best thing about this bag, as you can see from the picture is that it’s currently in the sale, reduced from £115 to just £27.50!!! I think I will get one in every colour!
To that’s my weekend bag sorted, it’s only taken me 3 years, now just to choose where to go for the next weekend away!