Leather Jackets, The One?

The first candidate in the leather jacket review came last Tuesday, and I couldn't bring myself to write about it until today since it's been boiling hot in Chicago this week (as in, high 80s low 90s, no cloud cover). I've no central air in my apartment and exactly 1 AC unit that sits in my living room, so trying on leather was the last thing I wanted to do.

But here it is today - The Ted Baker Riza jacket. I picked this up at Nordstrom during the anniversary sale. Before I could judge on the fit of the jacket, I wanted to do a bit of research on how leather jackets tend to behave over time, especially in terms of stretch. Most of my research was on the purseblog forums, where the ladies have a lot of experience with purchases on a wholly different scale of luxe. If you're in the market for an investment piece, I'd definitely recommend stopping there to read their experiences.

The first thing that I learned was that leather tends to have a bit of stretch to it. So to ensure a long-lasting fit, it seems to be okay if the jacket itself is a little tight in the body. The one area it must fit right off the bat is the shoulders. The second thing I learned is that apparently, most leather jackets are created to be worn open. If you want to reasonably zip the jacket up, while wearing a sweater underneath, you're meant to size up - depending on the cut. I live in a colder climate (9 months out of the year, I'm wearing a jacket), so this is the fit that I'm trying to find.

Now for what I think of the Ted Baker Riza jacket. The leather itself was very soft and buttery. No qualms there. The construction was solid. The seams were well sewn and I couldn't detect any variations in the leather, which suggests that it was a good quality. The shoulders fit properly. The sleeves were a little bit long, but I had noticed from my research that on the average person, they'll be long. In the model pictures, her sleeves are actually pushed up a bit.

I've had this jacket for a week now, and I've tried it on countless times, just kind of wavering between keeping it and not keeping it. I don't know about you, but I tend to get very bloated around that time of the month. So this jacket was just NOT fitting around my midsection. However, I tried it on today (no bloat), and it fits like a glove - even zipped up. I think it's a keeper!

We're a long ways away from Fall, so if I run into a different jacket that I like better, then I'll reconsider. But this seems pretty darn close to perfect. Thank god for Nordstrom's awesome return policy. I'll keep the tags on it for now, but I cannot wait until it gets chilly around here!