Some of my personal favorite jackets are the super tough flamboyant productions of the 1930s and 1940s. Jackets appealed to both the male sensibilities of masculinity, pomp and utility. There is no other way to explain the incredible concoctions of early horsehide jackets and grizzly jackets. Now before we get concerned with the endangered grizzly...this is more of a nom-de-plume. The grizzly refers to jackets with fur on front. These jackets are often harking back to the rough and tumble pioneer period in North America. Early settlers, natives and traders would wear leather garments that were often simply tanned with bark or brain tanning and had basic robe like construction. Fur was rarely removed and often worn on the outside of the jacket. Heck, if it can keep a buffalo warm why not a man. Many of the seriously tough men and motorcyclists of the 1930s could often be seen photographed in fur on grizzly jackets while riding dirt roads of the back country.
