These Ten Shearling Jackets
Show The Style’s Full Range
From the Arctic to Fashion Week, shearling jackets represent the best (and warmest) parts of leather outerwear.
Leather jackets are eternal style anchors. With a rich history ranging from military applications to Hollywood icons, the world of leather jackets is understandably multifaceted. Trench coats, for example, drop below the knee and carry a bunch of unmistakable details like epaulets and belted waists. Flight jackets, on the other hand, boast cropped bodies and elasticated hems throughout. And while each type of leather jacket has specific strengths, shearling jackets seem to encompass many of the best bits from a range of them.
Cut with the furry side of the pelt intact, shearling jackets constitute the bulkier side of leather outerwear. With this bulk comes warmth—lots of it. In fact, shearling jackets have for centuries been favored by cultures that inhabit the bitter cold of the northern reaches of Scandinavia and the Arctic. What’s more, many mid-century flight jackets took advantage of shearling’s warmth, retaining the cropped silhouettes, buckled storm collars, and other features that demarcate the style.
With such a far-reaching legacy, there’s ample variation available in the styles of shearling jackets. The best designer shearling coats come from names like Acne Studios, KNWLS, LEMAIRE, and others, ranging from minimal shearling flight jackets to Y2K exuberance.
Featured In This Image: Acne Studios jacket
Acne Studios is well-known for its leather coats, in particular its shearling coats. It’s easy to see why; the Spread Shearling jacket cuts a striking silhouette with a cropped body, dropped shoulders, and a large, furry spread-collar that can be turned up and buckled shut for optimum wind protection. The brown cracked lambskin build is extremely hardy and has a distinctive vintage aesthetic.
Featured In This Image: Loulou Studio jacket
Shearling is a very distinctive material and Loulou Studio’s Namo jacket makes the most of it. An exaggerated shawl collar emphasizes the cozy fur lining while the beige finish makes the piece pop against darker winter color palettes.
Featured In This Image: KNWLS jacket
British designer Charlotte Knowles has risen to prominence within the Y2K trend, earning celebrity endorsements from the likes of Ice Spice and Doja Cat. KNWLS’s nostalgic style lends itself to the furry opulence of shearling, as exemplified by the Neo Joan jacket, which features a high, cropped body and a ruffle of furry collars.
Featured In This Image: MACKAGE jacket
MACKAGE takes a more modern approach to shearling with the Tulip jacket. Boasting a sleek, quilted section to the body and a tighter silhouette than the usual oversized fit of a retro-leaning design, the Tulip jacket is an example of how much space there is for designers to leave their own stamp on versatile pieces like shearling coats.
Featured In This Image: TOTEME jacket
Cut from pure lambskin, TOTEME’s Lanyard jacket flips the script of a shearling coat, literally. Instead of opting for the traditional way with fur facing inward and protective skin facing outward, this design inverts the order for dramatic effect. With structural lanyard clasp fastenings detailing the front, it’s a coat with serious character.
Featured In This Image: LEMAIRE jacket
While most shearling jackets could, in theory, be reversible, it’s surprisingly rare to find one that actually is. LEMAIRE deals in versatility and elegance, though, so this one is. With an understated, classic shape—bar subtly dropped shoulders—this men’s shearling jacket can be turned inside out to reveal the cozy, textured fleece interior.
Featured In This Image: Acne Studios jacket
One of the most recognizable features of a shearling jacket is the paneled construction, which leads to the grid-like pattern of fluffy seams. Sleeker designs look to hide these seams under leather sections for a smoother finish, but this Acne Studios shearling jacket for men amplifies them. The effect is a jacket that’s hard to look away from; even harder when you notice the tooth-shaped toggle fastenings.
Featured In This Image: Rick Owens jacket
As mentioned earlier, military bomber jackets were often made using shearling during the First and Second World Wars because of the improved heat-retention. Rick Owens leans into this legacy, reframing this shearling bomber jacket as something much more gothic and dramatic without losing the functional aspects, like elasticated hems throughout.
Featured In This Image: Isabel Marant jacket
Isabel Marant’s Alberto Shearling Jacket is made from supple lambskin and offers an understated yet highly refined take on the style. For those looking for versatility and everyday wearability, Isabel Marant’s Alberto ticks the boxes: A neutral palette, regular proportions, and simple zip fastening make it a jacket that’s hard to fault.
Featured In This Image: A.P.C. jacket
Faux-shearling jackets are beginning to rival the popularity of the real thing. As faux-leather closes the gap in texture and quality with real leather, it becomes harder and harder to tell the difference between pieces like the A.P.C. Tommy jacket and other real shearling jackets. The heavy fabric is weighted realistically and offers the same kind of soft insulation from the fleece lining.
- Date: December 18, 2023
