Rick Owens Bauhaus Jacket – Black

Shearling is one material, not two. It is a sheepskin tanned with the fleece still attached, so the insulation and the shell are the same piece of animal and there is no lining to separate, compress, or wear out. That is the whole case for it, and it is why a shearling jacket is heavier than it looks, and warmer than anything of comparable bulk, and why it lasts decades when it is looked after.

The construction here does the interesting thing with that. The zip runs off centre, so the front of the jacket is a single uninterrupted plane with the closure pushed to one side, and the edge of that zip is faced in calf leather rather than shearling. That is not decoration: the closure is where a shearling jacket takes the most abrasion, and leather takes abrasion better than a cut fleece edge does. The sleeves are lined in cupro and the pockets in cotton, so the two places you put your arms and your hands run smooth rather than against the fleece.

Black outside, pearl inside. The colour is only visible at the collar, the cuff, and the open front.

We did not take this on lightly. We took it because it is the piece where the house's construction thinking is most completely visible: one material doing two jobs, a closure moved off centre for the line rather than for convenience, and leather placed exactly where the garment will wear. It is also, unfashionably, a fifty-year coat. Shearling of this quality outlives its owner if it is cleaned by someone who knows what it is. We would rather sell one of these than a rack of outerwear that will be replaced in three winters.

The Bauhaus is one of the recurring outerwear names at Rick Owens, redrawn across seasons in leather and in shearling, and this is the shearling version of it.

One hundred percent lamb shearling. Zip edge in one hundred percent calf leather. Sleeve lining one hundred percent cupro; pocket lining one hundred percent cotton. Made in Italy. Colour: Black and Pearl. Asymmetric zip closure, structured shoulder, defined lapel.

Shearling has a thickness that a leather jacket does not, so it sits away from the body rather than against it, and a size that is right in a leather jacket may be tight here. It layers over a shirt or a fine knit comfortably. It will not take a heavy sweater underneath and it is not meant to. The material softens and moulds with wear, particularly at the elbow and the front edge, but it does not relax the way leather does, so buy the fit you want rather than the fit you hope to arrive at.

Over black, which is what the pearl interior is for: the only colour in the outfit is the one that shows when the jacket is open. Narrow trousers, because the volume is all above the waist. A boot rather than a low shoe.

Never at home and never at an ordinary dry cleaner. Shearling needs a specialist who cleans shearling specifically, because the skin and the fleece want different treatments and one process can ruin the other. Between cleanings, air it, brush the fleece gently, keep it off heat and out of direct sun, and hang it on a broad hanger with space around it so the shoulders hold. Our care guidance covers shearling directly, and it is worth reading before the first winter rather than after it.

For leather in the same house, the Brad Jacket and the Giacca Classic Biker Jacket. For the horse leather version of the same line, the Cropped Jumbo Bauhaus Stooges, and for the same off-centre closure on a sweatshirt, the Bauhaus Jogger. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.