Made for Misfits: The Colorful History of the Black Leather Jacket

The classic Schott “Perfecto” is outfitted with an off-center zipper and a slim belt at the waist. In 1928, New York designer Irving Schott developed the style, which reigned as the ideal black leather jacket silhouette for decades. (Via Schott)

During World War II, A-2 leather jackets were issued to bomber pilots and crewmen serving in the U.S. Army. The servicemen would have the backs of their jackets painted with pin-up girls, cartoons, or mission tallies.

After Irving Schott developed the "Perfecto" motorcycle jacket, the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company distributed the "Perfecto," selling the look to its biker clientele. "Ride in classy comfort!" this 1947 Harley jacket ad promises.

This 1948 ad for Kit Karson motorcycle jackets marked a shift from the pre-war "aviator" leather jackets made of capeskin to postwar biker jackets made of thick horsehide.

Members of the notorious motorcycle club Hells Angels have been riding Harleys and sporting Harley jackets—usually with the club's logo patch sewn to the back—since its founding in 1948. This Hells Angel was photographed in New York City in 2009. (Via WikiCommons)

James Dean further perpetuated the appeal of rugged rebellion as Jim Stark in 1955's "Rebel Without a Cause." While the film was meant as a cautionary tale about moral decay among American youth, Dean's tragic death before the film's release solidified his status as an outsider icon.

Tom Sifton was a major figure in the history of motorcycle racing. He developed the fastest Harley Davidson engine and later opened a bike dealership in San Jose, California.

Eventually Harley-Davidson offered "Perfecto" designs tailored to women, too—as seen in this October 1959 ad.

Joseph Buegeleisen Co. in Detroit—called Buco after 1940—specialized in leather goods and also became one of the largest motorcycle-accessory companies in the U.S.

Greasers reigned in poor, working-class neighborhoods in the 1950s, often outfitted in leather and flannel, before the look became a hipster novelty. Some greasers—who got their name because they slicked back their hair and worked on motorbikes or hotrods—were members of outlaw biker or street gangs, but not all. This 1960 photo shows young Michel H. Beaudoin, a greaser in Quebec, Canada. (Via WikiCommons)

Leather culture emerged out of post-WWII biker gangs. In the 1950s, masculine gay men started dressing like Marlon Brando in "The Wild One," riding motorcycles, and exploring sexual kink and BDSM. Today, black leather is associated with kink, BDSM, and leather fetish, as well as a love of bikes. In this 2014 photo, leather daddies carry leather-culture flags at the Pride Parade in Cologne, Germany. (Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, via WikiCommons)

Young punks personalized (and politicized) their leather with studs, buttons, and patches. This photo was shot in Evansville, Indiana, in 1984. (Photo by Tim Schapker, via WikiCommons)

The Ramones collectively embraced black leather as a signifier of countercultural ingratiation. They all wore black leather jackets on the cover of their 1976 self-titled debut album.

Many young punks took style cues from Sid Vicious, bassist and vocalist of the Sex Pistols, who were outfitted by designers Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood. His violent, drug-addled life embodied the chaotic nihilism of the U.K. punk movement. (Poster via Amazon)

In 1982, the R&B group Shalamar, featuring Jody Watley, Howard Hewett, and Jeffrey Daniel, projected effortless style.

Blondie’s Debbie Harry was the epitome of cool in the 1970s and ’80s. Here, she sports a leather jacket created by punk-designer Steven Sprouse especially for her.

Grace Jones was, hands-down, the most badass Bond girl in history—as the supervillain's henchwoman May Day in 1985's "A View to a Kill." May Day, like Jones herself, became a fashion icon.

Joan Jett, pictured on the album cover of 1988's "Up Your Alley," absolutely nails the formidable aura of an untouchable babe. She first co-founded the all-girl rock group The Runaways as a teenager in the mid-1970s. In 1981, Jett sang "Black leather, I'm gonna wear it to my grave ... Just the feel of it on my flesh makes me, feel wild, feel possessed."

Matt Dillon (with Kelly Lynch) starred as a criminal junkie in Gus Van Sant’s 1989 "Drugstore Cowboy," aptly outfitted in shiny black leather.

In John Waters’ 1990 flick "Cry-Baby," set in 1950s Baltimore, the delinquent “drapes,” including Johnny Depp's character Cry-Baby, don slick black leather to set themselves apart from the squares.

Actress Fairuza Balk joined the ranks of sneering nonconformists in leather. In 1996's "The Craft," her Nancy Downs was a teenage witch consumed by black magic, as symbolized by her goth, leather wardrobe.

Model-singer Agyness Deyn embraced the accessories and androgyny known to punkers of yore in this contemporary leather look for her 2008 music video, "Who" with The Five O'Clock Heroes, shot on the streets of Chinatown in New York City. (Photo by Myrna Suarez/Getty Images)