Outerwear with attitude

Leather jackets rise from outlaw to fashion icon

Worn to be Wild: The Black Leather Jacket Where: Royal Alberta Museum When: Until Sept. 7 Tickets: Adult $11, 65+ $8, students $7, youth 7-17 $5, kids six and under free More info: royalalbertamuseum.ca We wear them because we’re bad. We wear them because we’re cool. We wear them because we’re bikers, rock stars, pilots, rebels, punks and fashionistas.

Over the last century, the black leather jacket has evolved from protective outerwear into a timeless fashion piece worn by people, young and old, from many walks of life. In Worn to be Wild, a travelling exhibit that’s on now at the Royal Alberta Museum, we learn the social history and modern significance of the everlasting symbol of courage and toughness with an impressive number of jackets, including ones worn by stars like Elvis Presley, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Glenn Tipton and Billy Zoom.

“It’s a really neat example of how one item of clothing transforms from being too useful to be worn fashionably, then too edgy to be worn fashionably, then adopted by the rock ’n’ roll community as a uniform in any rocker’s wardrobe, then so common and accepted that high fashion adopted it,” museum spokesperson Cathy Roy said this week, noting the garment’s sensual yet impenetrable nature.

Worn to be Wild was organized by the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee in partnership with Seattle’s Experience Music Park, and yes, there are several Harleys on display inside the exhibit, including the orange 1956 K Model that Elvis bought on credit. In the displayed paperwork, the King (then 21) describes himself as a “self-employed vocalist.”

The exhibit features nearly 150 artifacts, including 50 jackets. Many of them are jackets we’ve seen in films, TV shows and concert halls. There’s the jacket worn by the motorcycle-riding cyborg in Terminator II (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) as well as the jacket Hugh Laurie wore as star of the prime time medical drama House. The jacket and pin-decorated vest that Pat Simmons of the Doobie Brothers wore for a Rolling Stones cover in 1979 is in the show, as is the metalstudded jacket and matching hot pants worn by Fergie in the 2010 Slash video Beautiful Dangerous. (No, she’s not that tiny; the hot pants have laces along the sides that can be loosened/tightened like a corset, and she didn’t actually do up the jacket).

Also in the show are several haute couture samples, including original designs by Jean Paul Gaultier, Junya Watanabe and Comme des Garçons.

A personal favourite is the jacket decorated with Keith Haring artwork, a Jeremy Scott design.

Worn to Be Wild has broad appeal to anyone interested in music, motorbikes, fashion, pop culture, and military and aviation history.

You’ll see Second-WorldWar-era painted flight jackets, personalized motorcycle club jackets and hand-painted punk jackets from the ’70s and ’80s.

What’s apparent from this show is that the black leather jacket is both iconic and enduring.

“I think it’s safe to say the black leather jacket is here to stay,” museum executive director Chris Robinson notes.

PHOTOS: LARRY WONG/EDMONTON JOURNAL Laura Sinclair, straddles a motorbike at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton where the exhibit, Worn To Be Wild: The Black Leather Jacket, officially opened on June 16. A two piece leather jacket, consisting of a separate bustier and bolero jacket,...

PHOTOS: LARRY WONG/EDMONTON JOURNAL A black leather jacket on exhibit at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton where the exhibit, Worn To Be Wild: The Black Jacket, continues until Sept. 7.

An Art Is Love black leather biker jacket with appliqués in multiple colours and finishes was designed by Franco Moschino

This multicoloured tweed wool moto dress with leather front and denim pockets was designed by Junya Watanabe.

One of the customized motorcycle jackets on display at the Royal Alberta Museum’s Worn to be Wild exhibit.

This is one of the 1980s-1990s customized motorcycle jackets created by various individuals in the Seattle area.

Four-year-old Ronan Reay, left, and his sister Bria Reay, two, show off their “born to be wild” side as they sit on a HarleyDavidson motorcycle at the Royal Alberta Museum exhibit.

A customized motorcycle jacket from Seattle of the 1980s-1990s at The Royal Alberta Museum’s exhibit, Worn To Be Wild: The Black Leather Jacket, which continues until Sept. 7.

Gianni Versace designed this black leather biker jacket with studs in characteristic Versace pattern.