the search for a good leather jacket is no different than finding a lover this season, and thus your taste should be as discerning, your search just as risky, and your desire just as frisky. read my take on how you’ll know which one is yours, and then let’s all look like tough fucking bitches out there.

this is a highly metaphorical look at seeking and keeping companionship this fall.

what is there to say about love in brooklyn? i had it once, i guess. i didn’t find it here but we brought it here, transplanted. into a pot that i think we didn’t realize had those little holes in the bottom and mostly just made a mess in our apartments every time we attempted to nourish it. it grew in awkward ways inside its pot, proving to be hyper sensitive to the climate and the noise and the lack of fresh air and space. and so we let it die. which of course, we both denied. but it died and part of it stayed here and the other part has rooted itself back down south.

from that experience and countless a very small and selective handful of others, i know enough to know what to look for.

i know what love in brooklyn would feel like. it would feel like a loyal embrace, snug but never constricting. it would be a second skin, one you don’t recognize your own without. it would feel familiar yet slightly foreboding, it would feel alive, and real, resilient. with zippers and snaps to reassure you- you’re not going anywhere.

it would look new and worn-in, audacious and comfortable. and you’ll question how it could fit as you cautiously slip it on over your shoulders and around your chest and zip it up, tight. admitting that you may not ever take it off, and vowing care for it properly so it will age well.

and it would sound like leather jackets hitting the floor, two. just before dawn. a heavy and definite sound over muffled giggles and shuffled movements and mischievous decisions.

if i’ve learned anything, it’s easier to find the quintessential piece of your wardrobe- the leather jacket– than to find such a companion.. however because the only way to take one off is to put one on, i’ve picked out this season’s standouts to wrap you in a just warm enough embrace, to come along with you on all your adventures without hesitation, to make you just a bit tougher, just a bit more confident, and just a bit more seductive.

just make sure you know how to get out of it when a worthy accomplice comes along.

<3L.  

I want this. I want people to hear me coming over the williamsburg bridge. I want to smell like diesel and freedom, in equal parts, all the time. I want to have grease permanently under my nails. I want this, Brooklyn.

To look like you have a motorcycle, from my understanding, you need the following:

1. Distressed denim- in blue, gray, black. whatever. you just need to have about 60 percent straight skin showing through. rip through my picks  here, here, and here.
2. Leather, leather, leather. Obviously a black leather jacket, leather boots in black, brown, or oxblood. Or black with real blood. Studs are a big bonus. toughen up with this, this, these or these.
3. A dangerously comfortable tshirt- “whoa girl, that shirt’s so cozy you might fall asleep at the wheel!” exactly. juxtapose danger with comfort, always. slip into one of these three options.
4. Silver jewelry- I don’t know why, gold just doesn’t work. We need silver rings with mystical stone that tell stories of your travels, silver lockers with James Dean’s actual heart inside, silver ID bracelets procured from inmates. i like these pieces.
5. Messy I-don’t-give-a-shit hair- it always comes back to this. Without a motorcycle to zoom you around the block, here’s how to fake it.
6. Black smudge eyeliner that stays for miles. And a convincing wink.

Special shout out to Ducati for sponsoring this post.