Rick Owens Black Flight Classic Bomber Jacket

The flight jacket is one of the few garments in modern clothing that was drawn entirely by requirement. The ribbed collar, cuff, and hem exist to seal a cockpit draught. The sleeve pocket exists because a seated pilot cannot reach a hip. The blouson body exists because it has to clear a harness. Nothing about it was styled, and that is why it has survived every attempt to restyle it.

What the house has changed here is not the pattern but the substance. The shell is a recycled polyester with a satin finish, so instead of the matte, technical surface the original had, it takes light and holds a sheen. The trims are wool rather than the usual synthetic rib, which is a considerably better hand at the wrist and the hem. The fill is a polyester and acrylic wadding. There are two linings, one cotton and one cupro, and cupro is the drier, cooler, faster-sliding of the two, which is why it is usually put where a sleeve has to pass over a shirt.

The shoulder is dropped, so the whole thing sits lower and looser than a military original would.

A bomber is a garment almost everyone owns and almost nobody owns a good version of. We took this one because it is the pattern kept honest and the materials taken seriously: real wool ribbing, a satin shell that reads as considered rather than sporting, and a pocket layout that works. It is also easy in a specific way: it goes over anything and asks for nothing.

The Flight is the house's take on a military bomber, and it recurs each season in different shells; this is the satin-surfaced one.

Body one hundred percent recycled polyester; trim one hundred percent wool; fill ninety percent polyester and ten percent acrylic; first lining one hundred percent cotton; second lining one hundred percent cupro. Made in Italy, in black. Dropped shoulder, satin finish, with exterior, interior, and sleeve pockets.

Cut with a dropped shoulder, so the shoulder seam falls below the point of your own and the jacket reads relaxed rather than fitted. That means the size you take is governed by body width and sleeve length rather than shoulder, and it means it layers over a knit comfortably. Ribbed hem and cuffs pull the volume in at the edges, which is what stops a loose bomber from reading as shapeless.

Over a hoodie or a fine knit, with a straight trouser. The satin surface is the loudest thing about it, so keep the rest matte. It works over tailoring in a way most bombers do not, because the shoulder is already dropped and does not fight a jacket underneath.

A shell of this kind is wiped rather than washed, and a jacket with a wadded fill, two linings, and wool trims should go to a cleaner rather than into a machine. Hang it with room around it, and keep the wool ribbing away from heat, which is what makes rib lose its recovery. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Alongside it, the Classic Flight Bomber, the F/W 25 SL Flight Vest, the Turtle Coat, and the Bauhaus Jacket. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.