Another factor said to have drawn the group to this style of dress was simply it’s affordability and durability (Thomsen 2000, 12). The movement driven by non-conformist youth looked to military styled clothes such as the bomber jacket and lace up boots to create a “smart and hard” (Thomsen 2000, 7) image. In the 70’s and 80’s British skinheads made the jacket a staple in their everyday dress. The bomber jacket (also known as the flight jacket) has over the years been incorporated into a number of subculture’s identities. In 1949 the MA-1 was born which would remain largely unchanged and widely worn up until present day. Over the coming years the jacket developed as textile technology advanced and needs of the pilots were addressed (Babcock 2015). The jacket had to provide optimal warmth whilst being lightweight, enabling the pilots to move their small work space. In the 1940s a jacket called the A-2 was born out of necessity for American military pilots who were faced with a cold and cramped cockpit environment (Babcock 2015). So as I sit here in my black bomber jacket I can take a clue from its name and assume it originated in the military but through what series of events did it come to be upon my back? As we consume fashion at ever increasing rates how often do we look down at our garments and wonder what their history is and how they came to be in shops and on our bodies? It is easy to think of everyday garments such as a t-shirt, a bomber jacket or a miniskirt as simply something to throw on or a passing trend but of course every garment we wear, lust after, or consider a “fashion crime” has a story.
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