James Dean wearing a suede 'fringe' jacket during the filming of Giant

The best suede jackets for men

12 May 2025 | |By Richard Brown

Why the soft, supple suede jacket is the style hit of spring/summer

All products are chosen independently by our editors. Luxury London may earn commission on items purchased.

James Dean’s most famous jacket wasn’t made of suede. That crimson red Harrington jacket, immortalised in the promotional stills for 1955’s Rebel Without a Cause, was made of lowly cotton. Dean did rock a suede jacket the following year, of course, during the filming of Western epic Giant. You can find it in the James Dean Museum, in the actor’s hometown of Fairmount, Indiana, alongside the world’s largest collection of Dean’s personal memorabilia.

We can presume that Morrissey visited the museum while filming the music video to Suedehead, his first, melancholic, make-or-break post-Smiths track – it’d be weird if he hadn’t, given that the entire elegiac audio-visual is shot in the small farming town in homage to his great movie star idol. In spite of tasselled Exhibit A pictured above, the song’s title isn’t a reference to Dean’s deep love of the soft and supple qualities of the classic, and in this case fringed, suede jacket.

Ronnie Wood rocking a suede jacket at British Summer Time in Hyde Park, London, July 2013

Dean’s suede jacket is now exhibited at the James Dean Museum in Indiana

Suedehead, explained Morrisey, was a reference to the subculture that had emerged from the skinhead movement. Unlike skinheads, with their aggressively-shaved bonces and stompy Dr. Martens boots, suedeheads dressed more akin to mods, in mohair suites and brogued shoes. Suedeheads, somewhat confusingly, weren’t named after a sartorial bent towards the silky napped material itself, but because disciples cropped their hair slightly longer than their buzzcut-ed predecessors – hence their hair having the fuzzy quality of suede. Mostly though, Morrisey said he chose to call his song Suedehead simply because he “really liked the word”.

It’s a similar story, while we find ourselves lingering, tangentially, on the intersection between British alt-rock music legends and a specific type of premium split leather, with the band Suede. The original London four-set had no particular affection for the velvety fabric. According to an interview, they just really liked Morrisey’s song. And thought ‘suede’ was a pretty cool name for a band.

We could, at this point, get stuck into how jackets of various kinds – anoraks, bikers, Harringtons, trenches, parkas et al. – became calling cards of the Brit pop movement at large. But we’re already veering dangerously off piste from the premise of this article. Which is to provide a fleeting summary of the men’s suede jacket in pop culture, before suggesting how you might become part of that culture by pointing you in the direction of some snazzy modern suede jackets you can buy for yourself. And here, Suede can’t help us; its members being far more into leather jackets of the full-grain persuasion.

David Beckham wearing a suede jacket during promotional duties for watch brand, Tudor

Becks’ suede take on the traditional biker jacket, Venice Beach, LA, 2012

To Jerry Seinfeld, then. Whose jacket in The Jacket, the third episode of the second season of Seinfeld, was definitely made of suede. “Can I say one thing to you?” says George, on Jerry’s expensive new suede number. “And I say this with an unblemished record of staunch heterosexuality: it’s fabulous.” This being Seinfeld, and Jerry being Jerry, the jacket is soon ruined in a snowstorm – a reminder that suede and water do not good bedfellows make.

For other times the suede jacket has played a starring role in pop culture, see John Lennon on the cover of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones touring at pretty much any point during the ’60s and ’70s, Owen Wilson in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums, and the late Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain.

Softer, suppler and more susceptible to water damage than traditional leather, suede may not provide a natural go-to during winter months. But as the mercury rises, the material’s lithe, lightweight merits make suede jackets trans-seasonal hero pieces – and a smart way to layer during summer. These are some of the best men’s suede jackets to buy right now…

Private White V.C. Suede Stealth Bomber

£1,795