Evolution of a leather jacket
Dec. 9th, 2004 06:08 pmTery's going to KILL me.
I just bought what will be my fourth leather jacket today. That's the fourth one I currently own. This isn't counting the one I had briefly and sold on eBay to justify the purchase of #3. But if you continue reading, I think you will agree that my progression through the stages is perfectly logical and not at all crazy. I think Tery is beginning to embrace this view less and less, however.
It started in college with my motorcycle jacket. You know, the obligatory rebel uniform:

(ROFL I just HAD to grab this pic. I think you'll agree if this isn't the face of "midlife crisis," I really don't know what is.) I loved this jacket, even had an artist friend of mine paint a portrait of The Cure's Robert Smith on the back. But as I grew, so did my tastes and needs. I still have a jacket like this (sans the portrait) and would consider selling it if not for the fact that they are a dime a dozen on eBay. You can't GIVE this jacket away, it seems.
My second jacket is so boring I won't even picture it. Just your standard, waist-length leather coat, high-quality, dressy, and utterly nondescript. Mostly Tery just wears that one now.
My third and fourth jackets were very similar. I remember watching X-Men for the 10th time and out of the blue just absolutely falling in love with Wolverine's distressed cycling jacket with the orange stripes on the sleeves. All I could find was something similar to this:

For about a week I wrestled with the idea of somehow adding stripes myself, but could find no solution that wouldn't look unutterably tacky and unmistakably homemade. So when I found the same coat with two sexy white stripes on one sleeve, I simply had to upgrade (and managed to sell the first incarnation almost immediately at auction). I found the replacement in an actual store, so had the chance to try it on. My problem with jackets is in order to get a size large enough to zip closed over my enormous bazoombas, the rest of it has to be comically larger as well (I tell you, as soon as I make my first million I'm buying myself a double mastectomy. Although ironically as I keep buying leather jackets, that day gets farther and farther away for me). That was (and is) the problem with this coat. I still love it and wear it often, but am still not entirely 100% satisfied with it.
Then along comes Ewan into my content little world wearing this scrumptiousness in Long Way Round:

It was really hard to find any pics at all of it, and they are nearly impossible to make out, but trust me, it is a damn fine jacket. This set me on the eBay road yet again in search of the perfect leather jacket. Damn you, Ewan, but I still love you so. (call me)
Which brings us to #5, just purchased today:

When I first saw this jacket I tried to convince myself it was too big. But over time the measurements magically looked more and more workable to me. I wasn't too thrilled with the gray shoulders, but everything else was exactly what I wanted, and the more I stared at it, the more I started to like the gray. Today the thing was physically pecking at my brain until I HAD to buy it for some relief. I'm going to be smart about it and only try to sell #4 when I am sure #5 will fit okay, but I have high hopes.
Maybe I can pass it off as a Christmas present? : O
Also in news that couldn't possibly be more unrelated, there was a disgusting enormous fly buzzing in the window today. I can tolerate nails on a chalkboard, but a fly buzzing in a window for some reason drives me totally batty. I swatted him easily...he was big and fat and lazy. I couldn't find the body to make sure he was dead in case I needed to put him out of his misery. I went back to work and thought nothing of it. An hour later I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and the damn fly was walking across my desk, one wing missing, like a creepy zombie fly come back to exact vengeance on me. I swatted him again and made sure to finish the job this time. Ewwwwwwwwwww skeeeeevy.
I just bought what will be my fourth leather jacket today. That's the fourth one I currently own. This isn't counting the one I had briefly and sold on eBay to justify the purchase of #3. But if you continue reading, I think you will agree that my progression through the stages is perfectly logical and not at all crazy. I think Tery is beginning to embrace this view less and less, however.
It started in college with my motorcycle jacket. You know, the obligatory rebel uniform:

(ROFL I just HAD to grab this pic. I think you'll agree if this isn't the face of "midlife crisis," I really don't know what is.) I loved this jacket, even had an artist friend of mine paint a portrait of The Cure's Robert Smith on the back. But as I grew, so did my tastes and needs. I still have a jacket like this (sans the portrait) and would consider selling it if not for the fact that they are a dime a dozen on eBay. You can't GIVE this jacket away, it seems.
My second jacket is so boring I won't even picture it. Just your standard, waist-length leather coat, high-quality, dressy, and utterly nondescript. Mostly Tery just wears that one now.
My third and fourth jackets were very similar. I remember watching X-Men for the 10th time and out of the blue just absolutely falling in love with Wolverine's distressed cycling jacket with the orange stripes on the sleeves. All I could find was something similar to this:

For about a week I wrestled with the idea of somehow adding stripes myself, but could find no solution that wouldn't look unutterably tacky and unmistakably homemade. So when I found the same coat with two sexy white stripes on one sleeve, I simply had to upgrade (and managed to sell the first incarnation almost immediately at auction). I found the replacement in an actual store, so had the chance to try it on. My problem with jackets is in order to get a size large enough to zip closed over my enormous bazoombas, the rest of it has to be comically larger as well (I tell you, as soon as I make my first million I'm buying myself a double mastectomy. Although ironically as I keep buying leather jackets, that day gets farther and farther away for me). That was (and is) the problem with this coat. I still love it and wear it often, but am still not entirely 100% satisfied with it.
Then along comes Ewan into my content little world wearing this scrumptiousness in Long Way Round:

It was really hard to find any pics at all of it, and they are nearly impossible to make out, but trust me, it is a damn fine jacket. This set me on the eBay road yet again in search of the perfect leather jacket. Damn you, Ewan, but I still love you so. (call me)
Which brings us to #5, just purchased today:

When I first saw this jacket I tried to convince myself it was too big. But over time the measurements magically looked more and more workable to me. I wasn't too thrilled with the gray shoulders, but everything else was exactly what I wanted, and the more I stared at it, the more I started to like the gray. Today the thing was physically pecking at my brain until I HAD to buy it for some relief. I'm going to be smart about it and only try to sell #4 when I am sure #5 will fit okay, but I have high hopes.
Maybe I can pass it off as a Christmas present? : O
Also in news that couldn't possibly be more unrelated, there was a disgusting enormous fly buzzing in the window today. I can tolerate nails on a chalkboard, but a fly buzzing in a window for some reason drives me totally batty. I swatted him easily...he was big and fat and lazy. I couldn't find the body to make sure he was dead in case I needed to put him out of his misery. I went back to work and thought nothing of it. An hour later I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and the damn fly was walking across my desk, one wing missing, like a creepy zombie fly come back to exact vengeance on me. I swatted him again and made sure to finish the job this time. Ewwwwwwwwwww skeeeeevy.