Nnatalie
Well-Known Member
Last Christmas, @mulceber got me a mid/late 30s civilian leather jacket. It is a great jacket, and I love it. However, it had certainly seen its share of wear (suede-ing, a few spots of peeling), so I was reluctant to wear it in situations that might worsen the damage. A well-worn, broken in jacket is what we aspire to--a jacket that's falling apart, not so much. It got taken out on walks and other outings where I could protect it. Additionally, while it fit, it was a touch bigger on me than it was originally intended to be back in the day, especially length-wise. I wanted to get a jacket that I didn't have to worry about and baby. I looked at some of the women's civilian jacket options out there, but none of them had the unique details that my original had or else they were styles that just didn't suit me. I ended up deciding on simply getting a reproduction of my original made, albeit with a few size/fit changes (shorter and a little more form-fitting). I figured that these were changes that could/would have been made back in the day. If a woman had enough money to buy a nice leather jacket, she would have gotten one that was in her size and suited her height. If she had even more money, she could have gotten it custom-made to her measurements (I've seen at least one ad for such a service in an old newspaper).
@mulceber and I chose to go with Five Star due to a combination of cost, how great Shawn is to work with, and positive reviews from people who sent jackets to him for copying. If I was going to be sending my original jacket overseas, I wanted to be sure it was going someplace trustworthy. Covid caused shipping fees to Pakistan to be unreasonably high, but thankfully Shawn was able to work from extensive photos and measurements instead. Here's a comparison (the dressmaker's dummy isn't adjusted to my size. Fit pics will come later):
Some differences, and why they exist:
(fit pics in the next post)
@mulceber and I chose to go with Five Star due to a combination of cost, how great Shawn is to work with, and positive reviews from people who sent jackets to him for copying. If I was going to be sending my original jacket overseas, I wanted to be sure it was going someplace trustworthy. Covid caused shipping fees to Pakistan to be unreasonably high, but thankfully Shawn was able to work from extensive photos and measurements instead. Here's a comparison (the dressmaker's dummy isn't adjusted to my size. Fit pics will come later):
Some differences, and why they exist:
- Size/length--I'm short. My back waist length is about two inches shorter than the standard measurements for women's garments. I wanted the waist of my jacket to actually hit at my waist.
- Material--The original jacket is most likely capeskin. However, we went with lambskin for the repro, as it had the weight and texture that I wanted. I've seen some capeskin that is quite bumpy and textured, whereas women's jackets were usually made with smoother, more supple leathers. Women's jackets were sturdy garments, but they weren't expected to be worn while doing hard manual labor. They were sportswear for outdoor activities.
- Cuffs--The original cuff panels were mismatched at the inside seams, as you can see above. One sleeve had a slight mismatch, while the other had a more extreme one. This did not seem to be any intentional design choice, so I had it fixed on the repro. The cuff panels are intentionally staggered on the other side, which was a common style feature (and was also done on the repro).
- Zipper--Both jackets have Talon zips, albeit different styles. This was due simply to availability. Shawn had a ykk zipper that more closely resembled the original, but I cared more about having a zipper that looked old than one than the specific shape of the zipper pull and such. The repro Talon zip on the repro jacket is a style that was also around at the time my original jacket would have been made.
- Side buckles--The original has slightly textured side buckles, and the repro has smooth side buckles. Again, this was based on availability, and I was concerned more about hardware that was consistent with the era rather than the specific texture.
- The lining--Purple is my favorite color.
(fit pics in the next post)
