The 'leather jacket effect' will change how you get dressed this summer.

November 3, 2024

Picture this: It's 2008. You've pulled on your skinny jeans, your new boho blouse and finished the outfit with some ballet flats and a cute owl necklace.

But something's missing. You need to toughen it up a bit. So you go to your closet and you grab the piece you know Kate Moss or Alexa Chung or Whitney Port would turn to in this instant: your trusty leather motorcycle jacket.

Just like that, you look edgier. Cooler. More fashion. Alexa would approve.

Watch: Leigh styles Helena using the "style maths" method. Post continues below.

Mamamia

It's hard to describe the chokehold the leather jacket had on a generation of women and their wardrobes. We all had one — mine was from Zara, cropped at the waist and embellished with silver buckles, and it still holds a special place at the back of my closet juuust in case that shape becomes trendy again (ok, so I can't bear to part with it.)

But while we might not apply our leathers as liberally as we once did, we millennial women still subscribe to the styling logic. Leather = edgy, right? It's a lesson we can't let go of.

Fashion icon Alexa Chung has been deploying her signature styling trick since the early 2000s. Image: Getty.

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Nothing To Wear

And thankfully we don't have to.

Wardrobe stylist and content creator Allison Bornstein, the woman behind the viral "three word" styling method, says we can still apply what she calls the "leather jacket theory" to getting dressed now — no matter the outfit or the season.

In a TikTok video, she shows you how to wear a leather jacket without actually… wearing one. Stay with me, here.

"What's helpful about a leather jacket [is] that it's dark in colour, so it adds some contrast to a lighter, breezier look, it has some hardware so it gives a little bit of edge, and it also [adds] structure," she explains.

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♬ original sound - Allison Bornstein

Bornstein suggests using accessories to achieve contrast, hardware and structure in lieu of a heavy jacket, especially in a season like summer when you don't need to be layering. The accessories themselves don't need to be "edgy" or even leather, but they should offset the tone of the outfit.

For example, Bornstein says if you're wearing a lightweight white dress, you could add black leather flats and a black handbag for contrast. Silver jewels can come into play too, adding the element of hardware.

"[A] light look that could go soft and romantic actually has a bit of edge with the black accessories and the jewellery," she says.

This street style moment shows the effect sleek black accessories can have on a summery look. Image: Getty.