Hollywood has a habit of making perfectly ordinary clothes feel like something you need to own. A café in France, a motorcycle jacket on a rebel without a cause, a waxed cotton Barbour in the Scottish Highlands. The jacket is often the thing you remember most, and most of the time, the real versions are still available.
Marlon Brando, The Wild One (1953)
Before The Wild One, the black leather motorcycle jacket was functional clothing worn by people who rode motorcycles. After it, every teenager in America wanted one. Brando wore a Schott Perfecto, the same model the brand had been making since 1928, with an asymmetric zip, wide lapels, side buckles and a belted waist.
The jacket is still in production, with Schott still making the Perfecto 618 for around $600 USD, unchanged from the one Brando wore on set. There is no better version of this jacket at any price, and there’s no real reason to look for one.
Steve McQueen, The Great Escape (1963)
McQueen wore a mouton shearling flying jacket for much of The Great Escape, the kind of piece US Army Air Forces pilots wore during the Second World War. It was a natural fit for a film set in a German POW camp, but McQueen wore it with enough ease that it stopped looking like a costume.
The shearling flying jacket has been a menswear staple ever since, and the ones worth buying today come from Schott, Acne Studios and The Real McCoy’s, the Japanese brand that makes exact reproductions of original military clothing to a standard most manufacturers don’t come close to.
Ryan O'Neal, Love Story (1970)
O’Neal wore a camel suede jacket through much of Love Story and it became one of the defining pieces of early 1970s style, partly because of the film and partly because O’Neal genuinely looked good in it.
The suede jacket, cut with a simple silhouette and minimal detailing, has never fully gone away. The ones worth actually owning come from Nudie Jeans, Acne Studios or, at the top end, Tod’s, whose suede outerwear is hard to beat for quality and cut.
Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The jacket worn by Harrison Ford across the Indiana Jones films was a modified A-2 flight jacket in dark brown horsehide leather, with a longer body and a fuller cut than the standard military version to allow for movement during the stunt sequences. It has been replicated by dozens of manufacturers since 1981.
The closest production versions come from Aero Leather in Scotland and Wested Leather in the UK, which supplied the actual jackets for the films from The Temple of Doom onwards. Both are made to order and worth the wait.
Tyler Durden, Fight Club (1999)
Brad Pitt’s red leather jacket in Fight Club was a custom piece made by costume designer Michael Kaplan, and it’s been chased by collectors ever since. The style, a collarless red leather jacket with a slight sheen, is unusual enough that finding a direct equivalent is harder than most of the others on this list.
For anyone who wants the look without the hunt, a red leather bomber in a similar shade from AllSaints or Schott covers the general territory, though neither is exact.
James Bond, Skyfall (2012)
Daniel Craig’s Bond wore a waxed cotton Barbour Beacon Heritage Sports jacket in Skyfall, and it sold out almost immediately after the film’s release. Barbour has re-released versions several times since, and the specific model, a mid-length waxed jacket with corduroy collar and the brand’s traditional tartan lining, remains available from Barbour directly for around £350.
Craig wore it with dark trousers and a roll neck, which is also the correct way to wear it now.
Cooper, Interstellar (2014)
Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper wore a Carhartt Detroit jacket throughout Interstellar, the waxed canvas chore coat Carhartt has been making since the 1940s. It was chosen partly for its workwear credibility and partly because it reads as timeless rather than period-specific.
The Detroit jacket still retails for around $130 USD, making it the most accessible piece on this list by a long way. The waxed canvas ages well, the blanket lining is genuinely warm, and the cut works over almost anything.