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‘Born cool’ – why the varsity jacket is still leader of the pack

Originally the preserve of Ivy League sportsmen, the jacket has seen incarnations from the likes of Salt-N-Pepa, Palace and Prada. And now Louis Vuitton’s NFT version is going for £7,000

Instantly recognisable thanks to its two-tone leather sleeves and boiled wool body, the varsity jacket has served as a symbol of jock masculinity in classic films such as Teen Wolf and The Breakfast Club, and was worn onstage by Michael Jackson and more recently has been adopted by celebrities from Rihanna to Bella Hadid. The varsity jacket is “an odd bird in the world in fashion” for the way it has stayed so present in style trends over the past century even as it’s “retained its original meaning,” says Deirdre Clemente, historian and curator of 20th-century American material culture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Of course, by the 90s, everyone was wearing letterman jackets, and the item had been fully adopted into hip-hop fashion, alongside preppy brands such as Polo and Tommy Hilfiger, classic American styles associated with wealth and class.

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