Rick Owens SS26 Classic Biker Jacket

Take a garment whose whole history is protection and make it out of a material that protects nothing. That is the joke and the argument here, and it is a serious one. A biker jacket exists because leather resists abrasion; strip out the leather, keep the funnel neck, the asymmetric zip, and every line of the pattern, and what remains is the shape alone, admitted to be the only reason anyone was buying it. Very few houses can do that without the result reading as a novelty. This one can, because the pattern is genuinely theirs and holds up when it is emptied out.

Practically, mesh does something a leather jacket cannot: it gives you the silhouette in a season where leather is unwearable. An open knit of polyamide with a little elastane has structure without weight, so the funnel neck stands, the zip line reads, and nothing about the jacket is warm.

It is a summer garment cut from a winter idea, and there is no other way to describe it.

Why we selected it

We took it for the contradiction, which is that it weighs nothing and asks to be taken seriously anyway. It also answers a real question we get asked, which is what to do with this house’s silhouette in a Santa Fe summer. And a store that carries the leather biker ought to carry the argument against it too.

The house re-cuts its own biker jackets in materials that contradict them, and this is that idea taken as far as it goes.

Materials and construction

Polyamide with elastane, in an open mesh. Colour: black. Funnel neck, asymmetric front zip.

Fit notes

Mesh with elastane in it has give in every direction, so it fits closer and more forgivingly than the leather version of the same pattern and will follow the body rather than hold away from it. It is semi-transparent, so what goes underneath is part of the outfit rather than hidden by it, and that decision matters more than the size. The funnel neck stands but is softer than a leather one.

Styling

Over a plain tee or a fine knit, with the understanding that both will show. Against black it reads as texture; against a colour it reads as a layer. A straight trouser. This is an evening piece more than a daytime one.

Care

An open knit of this kind snags before it wears out, so keep it away from anything with a hook or a rough edge, and store it folded rather than hung, because a mesh will pull out of shape on a hanger. Hand wash cool or have it cleaned; do not put it near heat, which is what takes the recovery out of elastane. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Giacca Classic Biker Jacket in lamb leather is the same pattern in the material it is usually made from. The S/S 26 Gary Jacket and the S/S 26 Fogpocket Soft Soft Blazer come from the same season. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.