Rick Owens Giacca In Pelle – Gary Jkt

Read the composition and the jacket explains itself. Sixty-five percent lamb leather, thirty-four percent cotton, one percent spandex: that is not a blend in the way a cloth is blended, it is a laminate. The lamb has been bonded to a cotton and spandex backing, so the hide is carried on something that stretches and returns, and the finished panel behaves in a way that no conventional leather does. It gives across the back when you reach, and it comes back. A conventional leather jacket in this cut would have to be sized for the widest movement you intend to make in it, and this one does not.

That changes what the pattern is allowed to do. The Gary is cut close, with an asymmetric front zip and no ease anywhere, which is a silhouette that ordinary leather can hold only by being loose enough to defeat the point. Here the fit can be genuinely tight and still wearable for an evening. The surface is matte rather than polished, so the red reads as pigment rather than as shine, which is what keeps a saturated colour on a leather jacket from tipping into costume.

Cardinal red is the other decision, and it is a real one from a house that works almost entirely in black and greyed neutrals.

We took the red. A black one of these is a jacket someone will wear; a cardinal red one is a jacket someone will decide about, and the bonded construction is what makes deciding in its favour easy, because it is comfortable in a way the category is not. We also like being able to explain a garment by reading its composition line out loud, which happens about twice a year.

Giacca in pelle is simply the house's Italian for leather jacket rather than a model name, and the bonded stretch leathers are the newest thing under it.

Sixty-five percent lamb leather, thirty-four percent cotton, and one percent spandex, made in Italy, in cardinal red. Lamb leather bonded to a stretch backing, with a matte finish and an asymmetric front zipper.

Close, and intended to be close. The stretch in the backing means it accommodates more movement than the size label suggests and returns to shape afterwards, so take your usual size rather than sizing up for comfort. It is not cut to close over a sweater; a tee or a fine knit underneath is what it is drafted for. Bonded leather relaxes less over time than unbonded leather does, because the backing is doing the work, so the fit you try on is close to the fit you keep.

Over black, where the red is the only colour in the outfit and should be. Over a milk or dust tee, if you want the jacket to be one of two things happening rather than the only one. With a slim black trouser rather than a wide one, since the jacket has no volume to balance.

No water, no direct heat, no plastic. A bonded leather has a textile backing that a solvent can affect independently of the hide, so this is a specialist garment rather than a dry cleaner's, and it should be hung broad and allowed to air rather than cleaned often. Keep it out of sustained direct sun, which is what takes a saturated red down first. We prefer to advise on conditioning in person rather than on a schedule. Our care guidance covers leather in more detail.

The same bonded leather returns as the F/W 25 Gary Jacket and the SS26 Gary Jacket. Unbonded lamb is the Giacca In Pelle Naska Biker, and in cardinal red underneath it, the Rib LS T. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.