Rick Owens Brad Jacket

Calf is the middle ground in leather and the least discussed. Lamb is thin, immediately soft, and drapes; horse is dense, stiff, and creases hard. Calf sits between them with a fine, tight grain and real substance, so a calf jacket has enough body to hold a shape from the first day and enough suppleness to be comfortable in it. It also takes colour beautifully, which matters here, because Dust is a warm grey-brown that would look muddy on a coarser hide and reads as soft and slightly dusty on this one.

The jacket itself is as plain as leather gets. A straight body ending at the hip, a front zip running straight rather than across, and buttons at the cuff instead of zips or tabs. Nothing is asymmetric, nothing is exaggerated, and there is no hardware beyond what closes it. It is what someone from this house makes when they are not making a statement.

Every customer who wants a leather jacket eventually asks for one that is not a biker, and there are very few good answers. This is ours. It is calf rather than lamb, so it will outlast the softer jackets here, and it is in a colour rather than black, so it does not disappear into every other leather jacket in the room. It is also the most under-designed thing this house makes, which some people will find is exactly what they wanted.

Alongside the bikers, the house makes plain leather jackets with no asymmetry at all, and the Brad is the clearest of them.

One hundred percent calf leather, made in Italy. Colour: Dust. Hip length, straight silhouette, zip closure, buttoned cuffs.

Calf has more substance than lamb, so it holds away from the body slightly and softens over months rather than days. A straight silhouette hangs from the shoulder without narrowing, so the shoulder is the measurement that decides the size. It layers over a shirt or a fine knit and not over a heavy one.

Over a knit in black or grey. Dust is warm, so it sits better against neutrals than against colour. A straight trouser and a boot.

Not at home and not at an ordinary dry cleaner. Wipe smooth leather with a barely damp cloth, keep it out of long sun and off heat, and hang it on a broad hanger. A pale leather shows marks that a black one hides, so deal with them early and by way of a specialist. Our care guidance covers conditioning, and its position is that less is safer than more.

In lamb, the Giacca Classic Biker Jacket and the Giacca In Pelle Naska Biker. The Cropped Jumbo Bauhaus Stooges is horse leather, and the Hoodie is in the same Dust. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.