Lizz’s Latest Thing: F*ck Yeah Leather Jackets

I think I speak for everyone when I say “Fuck yeah, leather jacket season.” Spring is upon us and there’s only one thing to do: spend money I don’t have on a leather jacket I want but probs don’t need. Queer women ask me (well, Riese and Laneia and Rachel) all of the time “How can I dress like me and also look gay?”  I think generally (though not always because we are all unique and beautiful butterflies) this question translates to “ZOMG I wear dresses, and they don’t look gay. Make me look gay please???”

The answer is a leather jacket. That’s it. Put it over a dress, put it over a white V-neck, put it over a trashbag. It looks hot and queer. That’s the whole answer. So let’s look at some.

LEATHER JACKETS: THE WAY TO SAMANTHA RONSON'S HEART

The Kitty Pryde Jacket

Right now I’m rocking a straight collared zip front in black. I don’t know what this style is called, so I’m going to call it a Kitty Pryde jacket because when you wear it you look like Kitty Pryde in the X-men.

So I know what you’re thinking. I totes want to look like that, except I just donated my spare eleven hundred dollars to autostraddle. Eff. But as it turns out, You Don’t Need to Spend Thousands of Dollars on a Leather Jacket. I got mine for £100 on the street in London (brag brag) I mean, okay, that’s still basically thousands of dollars. But this jacket is also hot and it’s like $60! In fact, Mossi’s even ups the ante with that cute horizontal zipper that lets that cute girl who makes sandwiches near your office known you’re trying to holler.

Mossi Classic Black Women’s Jacket

Bomber Jackets

The problem with the Kitty Pryde leather jacket is that I ALREADY OWN IT AND I NEED MORE THINGS. Which brings me to bomber jackets, which I like because they look like the jacket Rogue wore in the 90s X-men comics. (There’s a theme here.) The best thing about bomber jackets is your dad already has one in the closet. Just steal that one and wear it with anything. Seriously, all the things.

L: Landing Leathers Cowhide Leather Flight Jacket

R: Women’s Leather Bomber Jacket

The most important thing about bomber jackets to remember is that if you pop the collar up you will look as hot as this girl. You will. It’s just science.

Faux Leather

I feel compelled to say at this point that you totes don’t need to wear real leather to rock a leather jacket like a champ. In fact, if you’re wearing faux leather you don’t need to worry that your hot date might (very likely) be a vegan. Most importantly, you won’t make baby cows cry. Most most importantly, taking real leather out of the equations bottoms out the price of your coat dramatically.

BB Dakota Shakila Jacket

This is not a joke. I’m buying this jacket. It’s awesome and BB Dakota is a rising star designer. Just wait.

Leather Hoodies

I love you guys, and I know it’s hard to make fashion changes in your lives. So I just want you to know that American Apparel sells faux leather sweatshirts. That’s right, that’s a thing. There are no words to express how I feel about these. (Okay, there is one word: confused??)

American Apparel Unisex Matte Faux Leather Hoody

The internet told me you can wear this with white booty shorts, knee high socks and Doc Martens, but I don’t think that’s a requirement.

In conclusion, this.

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Lizz

Lizz is a consumer, lover and writer of all things pop culture and the Fashion/Style Editor at Autostraddle.com. She is also full time medical student at Brown University in Providence, RI. You can find her on the twitter, the tumblr or even on the instagram.

Lizz has written 261 articles for us.

63 Comments

    • Abbyshot! I own their Martha Jones jacket and it’s awesome.

      I love the shrug, but I have no idea what it could realistically be paired with. Except a floral sundress. I think it would rock over a floral sundress. I’m not sure why. Probably I’m wrong. :(

      • Isn’t Abbyshot’s quality amazing? I used to be kinda goth and it went with my “shirts and pants with lots of contraptions on them” wardrobe, but now I wear a lot of blazers and prints, so yeah, it realistically doesn’t pair with anything. But I couldn’t get rid of it when I changed looks because it’s too awesome.

        But now I have an excuse to buy lots of floral sundresses! I think you’re probably right. I will report back. Worst case scenario I end up with lots of new dresses. :)

      • I love leather jackets, but I maybe love Martha Jones even more. Which basically makes you the coolest person ever.

      • i had never heard of abbyshot before, but i have always wanted a leather jacket, AND my first name is abby, so basically, my day is made.

    • According to the internet you can wear that with a tight red dress. The internet said it so it must be true.

      But yeah, I think you just throw it on with a dress and force yourself out the door. You might feel mad awk at first, but I guarantee other people will be thinking “omg that’s so cool; I could never pull that off.”

  4. I have an awesome polyurethane jacket. I think it looks a little het because it’s quite short though and the bottom is at my ribs, not my hips.

  6. I know I just commented about it above, but I own Abbyshot’s Martha Jones jacket (http://www.abbyshot.com/products/ps-martha-jones-companion-jacket.php) and it’s the perfect combination of things-that-make-me-look-hot and things-that-attract-attention-from-geeky-types. And there’s this dude around town with their Wolverine jacket and I don’t know him, but whenever he sees me wearing my jacket he nods and says hey, like we’re in the Secret Nerdy/Sexy Leather Jacket Best Friends Club.

    • yessss. i have rose tyler’s blueish leather jacket except in black (some awesome cosplayers on livejournal helped me track down the store it was from). yayyy for doctor who companion leather! : D

      • I don’t know which companion jacket would be hotter!

        And romana: LOVE your name;-)

  8. THIS.

    I have a faux-leather motorcycle jacket-thing from f21 that was only like $30 but it looks hella chill. I like the diagonal zipper thing it has going on, even though it’s a bit too tight to zip up. I just layer it with other things and then feel super bamf.

  9. You’re on to something. Once I got a leather jacket, all my roommates and friends were like, “Wow, you look way more gay now. And by gay, we mean delicious.”

    OK, maybe not in so many words.

  11. Fuck yeah cheap faux leather jackets.

    I got an amazing leather jacket for my birthday when I was in Florence, and definitely wore it any place that I might be able to meet girls (when it wasn’t too hot to wear one without being awkward).

    So I ended up dating a vegetarian, and now I feel guilty every time I wear it because being around her reminds me that my awesome jacket was once an adorable baby cow with huge disney eyes.

    • I have a leather jacket– that is peach and fringey. Like, Sloan in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. So I look less lez and more crazy. I mean, crazy in a cool, trendy way duh.

      BUT I got in a thrift store for super cheap. So everyone, go to a thrift store and buy cheap, completely guilt-free leather!

      • oops i didn’t meant for that to be a reply! oh noooo i’m so bad at typing things and clicking buttons.

  12. Advice on leather jackets for the gayer looking girls/bois? I look pretty gay already, but I’d love a leather or faux leather jacket. But all those ones for girls are too short for me because I have this disproportionately long torso and all the ones for dudes are baggy.

  15. I need to have my black leather jacket altered but that scares me.

    Also, THRIFT STORES.

    I have been rocking a very battered white Bebe leather jacket that’s been ignored for YEARS and it is neat.

  16. If anyone had told me that leather jackets = ultrahomogayness when I was a teenager… I would have been a much less confused teenager.

    Faux-leather hoodies sounds like the worst fashion faux-pas ever though.

  17. I’ve been wanting a badass leather jacket for ages but I’m generally too poor to get one. I’d be all for getting faux leather, but I’m afraid it won’t breathe and I will sweat like I’m in a sauna while wearing it. Can anyone tell me if they really are like wearing a plastic bag?

    • I think as long as you go for something that’s “faux leather” as oppose to “pleather” (usually plastic leather) you should be fine.

      Also, check TJ Maxx or a thrift store for cheaper options on nicer jackets

  18. I love leather jackets, but I can wear them for about 3 months of the year here in Arizona. I think I would actually die if I wore them any other time of year. Any advice for a femme who wants to look more like a lesbian and NOT die of heat stroke? It, literally, gets up to 115 or 116 degrees here in the summer.

  19. Does anyone have any recommendations for leather jackets for thin girls with tits? I guess I just want something with a kind of tailored look. I’ve desperately wanted a leather jacket for pretty much my entire life, but I either end up looking super round cause my boobs stick out and make the rest of the jacket bulge, or I can’t zip it up in the first place.

    HELP ME PLEASE!

    • I’m in the same boat and as far as I can tell the answer is always “get it tailored.” Or bind.

        • Ben Sherman’s women’s clothing is still available in Australian stores, I bought a new shirt just 2 weeks ago. So I guess either the range was only discontinued in some regions, or it’s taking a really long time for them to pull their stock from the shelves. Shame.

    • RT? this is always my problem. I love wearing guys’ clothes, too, but they often just don’t work with the boobs.

  20. All the teevee lesbians are wearing them! Santana and Tea, as mentioned above, and then Emily Fields once she started coming out and being a playaaa. Her style evolved soo much throughout the season.

  21. <3 Leather jackets are cute and queer. The city I live in, however, is about 100 degrees right now. /: I guess I'll be bookmarking this for winter.

  25. I have a leather biker jacket that I got second hand for $50. It weighs a ton and has a million pockets and zips and is the warmest thing ever. Little did I know that wearing it over my pretty dresses made me look gay. I just thought it made me look more badass/kept me really warm. I was looking like a lesbian without even trying.

    • My favorite jacket I’ve ever had is a Harley Davidson leather jacket my Dad got for me years ago. It’s so incredibly warm and awesome and carries my entire life in it’s pockets sometimes. I have always felt like such a lesbian in it, part of the reason I love it so much. Biker jackets are the best.

      • They totally are the best.
        True story: My city was hit by a natural disaster, recently, that knocked out pretty much all the power and water systems. My leather jacket kept me warm while we had no heat and all the pockets held my torch, spare batteries, matches, some food, hand sanitiser, tissues, painkillers, bandaids and my phone. Everyone should buy a biker jacket.

  26. I own that American Apparel leather zip-up hoodie!

    It’s actually really great b/c it’s so thin – I like it under blazers instead of a regular zip-up, or instead of a real leather jacket at concerts b/c real leather jackets get too hot to wear the whole time.

  27. I would love a faux leather jacket… but dammit I live in Miami, so jackets of any kind are out when it’s not “those two weeks in December/January when it’s 65 degrees.”

  28. you know who has gorgeous leather jackets? the cast of V
    I wish I knew where they’re from

  29. I was trying to pay attention to the pictures and text but then you mentioned the X-Men cartoons and all I could think of was that I want a bright yellow trench thing like Jubilee had.

    Would it be gay enough, though?

  30. If you’ve also got her short hair, 80s headband, and combat boots, then yeah, that’s pretty gay.

  32. anytime i see a girl in a leather jacket i swoon IMMEDIATELY
    possibly because they look so damn hot, and possibly because i have this complex where i feel i cant pull them off myself (and thus appreciate even more when ladies can pull them off)

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