Club Obi Wan

Ken wrote:<big snip>
But add the fedora and you have the 'defining characteristics' for the lay person.
Ken

Thats a great analysis, Ken. I think the hat, though, is by far the strongest piece of gear recognition all by itself. The other stuff does need a combo.

I understand your point, Ken, but I think a better example would be an 'outfit' that was less movie 'costume' and more daily type wear, as the Indy jacket is.

Details or not, if I see anyone wearing a jumpsuit with any patches and something looking like a proton pack, I'll immediately think 'ghost busters'. I could care less about details, there's no doubt who they're dressed like.

That said, how about someone dressed like the Terminator? That's actually an 'outfit' you can see anytime you drive down the road and see folks riding motorcycles.

Are they dressed like the Terminator, or vice versa?

To answer the question posed....no, I've never had anyone identify any jacket I've worn as being an Indy jacket....but then, I've seen/heard ANY leather jacket/hat combination worn (regardless of type or style) being identified as 'Indy style'.

What I've found MOST puzzling is when I wear an absolute dead to rights on target Indy blocked hat in a color other than brown, no one has ever associated it with Indiana Jones hat. It was just a 'nice hat'. Weird.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson wrote:I understand your point, Ken, but I think a better example would be an 'outfit' that was less movie 'costume' and more daily type wear, as the Indy jacket is.

Details or not, if I see anyone wearing a jumpsuit with any patches and something looking like a proton pack, I'll immediately think 'ghost busters'. I could care less about details, there's no doubt who they're dressed like.

That said, how about someone dressed like the Terminator? That's actually an 'outfit' you can see anytime you drive down the road and see folks riding motorcycles.

Are they dressed like the Terminator, or vice versa?

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson, I find flaw in your Terminator argument.

We should recall that if you actually wanted to go in public dressed as the Terminator, you'd be arrested for public nudity, as the Terminator is nude by default. When Terminators put on clothes in the movies, they are dressing like someone else.

Arnold got into HUGE trouble while "dressed as a Terminator" about 10 years ago! Just ask the maid.

Michaelson wrote: Details or not, if I see anyone wearing a jumpsuit with any patches and something looking like a proton pack, I'll immediately think 'ghost busters'. I could care less about details, there's no doubt who they're dressed like.

Regards! Michaelson

You see this often??? Guess it depends on where you live.

I live in a college town, so it seems that pretty much anything goes around here. There seem to be alot of pirate sightings these days. My wife and passed by a young woman who looked like she had just stepped off the Black Pearl, tri-corn hat and all. It seemed to have a slightly modern slant to it all, and looked like everyday wear, not costume shop stuff. Made me wonder why I balk at wearing my Raiders fedora with my jacket.

Weston

Never said I 'saw it often'. Said IF I saw it, there was no doubt what I was seeing.

Regard! Michaelson

Michaelson

You make a good point actually. I guess the thing is we can see the terminator in different clothes and he is still the terminator (in the first movie he didnt initially wear the leather jacket at the start of the movie if i recall, it was something else), yet if Indy went into the field in a cotton jacket with a green felt fedora, etc he wouldn't be Indiana Jones any more (debatable - this is how it is for me though).

I guess its about what makes something iconic. For the teminator look perhaps that includes the physique. If I saw a regularly built person wearing the terminator outfit perhaps i would think 'biker'. If I saw a bodybuilder wearing it then maybe I am more inclined to think 'Arnie'.

Oh - and think sunglasses make it more terminator too

Well now you've ruined it for me. I was enjoying the idea that you had a bunch of Ghostbusters wandering around your neighborhood!

I saw an interview somewhere in which Spielberg talks about his efforts to create an iconic, instantly recognizeable look for Indiana Jones. They succeeded; all you have to do is see the silhouette and you instantly know what it is. The Fedora and the jacket are the magic combination. Without the hat, it's just a really nice leather jacket.

That said, I did draw an "Indy" comment once while wearing my jacket with a silverbelly Stetson.

Weston

Ken wrote:Michaelson

You make a good point actually. I guess the thing is we can see the terminator in different clothes and he is still the terminator (in the first movie he didnt initially wear the leather jacket at the start of the movie if i recall, it was something else), yet if Indy went into the field in a cotton jacket with a green felt fedora, etc he wouldn't be Indiana Jones any more (debatable - this is how it is for me though).

I guess its about what makes something iconic. For the teminator look perhaps that includes the physique. If I saw a regularly built person wearing the terminator outfit perhaps i would think 'biker'. If I saw a bodybuilder wearing it then maybe I am more inclined to think 'Arnie'.

Oh - and think sunglasses make it more terminator too

I think your right, the physical appearance of the terminator is what make him iconic, his size, attitude, clothing all adds up to his "charm."

Clothing doesn't make the man, the man makes the clothing.

Regards,

Soup

Ken wrote:Michaelson

You make a good point actually. I guess the thing is we can see the terminator in different clothes and he is still the terminator (in the first movie he didnt initially wear the leather jacket at the start of the movie if i recall, it was something else),

Yes...his birthday suit!

Weston wrote:

I saw an interview somewhere in which Spielberg talks about his efforts to create an iconic, instantly recognizeable look for Indiana Jones. They succeeded; all you have to do is see the silhouette and you instantly know what it is. The Fedora and the jacket are the magic combination. Without the hat, it's just a really nice leather jacket

Weston

Spielberg established that silhouette and ingrained it into our psyche in the very first shot of Raiders..genius.

No one's recoginized it as Indy's, but a lot of people like it

My WWII-spec A-2 jacket (by Gibson & Barnes) gets recognized as a "nearly Raiders" jacket once people know I'm a fan of the film. Other than that, it's just a pilot's jacket. But like others have said, add the hat and "nearly" is good enough.

jnicktem wrote:

Ian wrote:

fenris wrote:

Ian wrote:(Why does the spell check underline 'recognised' in red?)

...because the S should be Z in "recognized"...

I see......I think in the UK we spell it with an 's'....

Nice one though dude....not trying to sound patronising (there's another one), but especially with English being your second language?....It's my first and you're better than me...



Ian

Yes that is true. In the UK and Australia it is spelled with an "s" instead of a "z."

AND in Canada.

LJ

Over the past ten years and 20 indy jackets never once recognized, more recently received a few kind words on my TN CS, but never where any recognized as indy jackets, even when I first went to see CS wearing one

I'm pretty sure someone here had a guy point at him in the jackt and say, "Hi Fonzie."

I have only ever got, "Nice Jacket" never, "Nice Indy Jacket" (except for those who were in the know- aka my close friends, who will never hear the end of it from me
I have two '89 Cooper Sportswears and six Westeds. All of them have received compliments from time to time, mostly because they ARE nice jackets, heheh. But most of my friends couldn't give a rat's patoot about Screen Accuracy, or even the fact that it might be a movie jacket of one sort or another.
Oddly enough, the jacket that received the most compliments by far was my very first Wested Raiders which I acquired in 1999. Although it was pretty far from what one would consider Screen Accurate, it was probably the nicest made jacket I ever received from Wested. The stitching never budged, the leather was lamb, but thick enough to be a believable adventurers jacket, and it was one of the most comfortable jackets (Indy or not) that I ever owned.

I've noticed that with the Taupe pants, and field shirt (without Fedora)..the Raiders jacket makes someone look like an 1930's/40's aviator.

I agree with "Darkhelmet"....Spot on..Without the hat, in chinos and a tan shirt, the look is VERY 8th Army Air Force....Classic..

I don't think the jacket is necessary at all. Indy spent a lot of time without the jacket and was still easy to spot. I absolutely love the jacket, and it caught my eye immediately, however it's the hat and khaki clothes, and honestly, I think the bag with the strap across his chest that define his look. The whip is a dead give away too, but not so much the jacket.

Now, the hat with a Hawaiian shirt - not so much. The bag with a t-shirt, no, just a bike messenger. The whip by itself, "Sir, what are your intentions?..."

But the hat, khaki pants, light long sleeve shirt - 90% there. Add the bag with a chest strap - 98% there - in most people's minds.

I once wore a khaki shirt and trousers to work, and had one of our military students ask me if I had been a military prisoner.

He said that was the outfit usually issued to Marine prisoners State side.

Uh, ok.

Regards! Michaelson

Or a Navy officer...

That would have been better than an ex-prisoner.

Regards! Michaelson

...should have played it....Yeah, I was once locked up for enlisting as a Marine, etc...

We have active duty personnel going through here all the time. That would get me shot!

I dont even know who the manufacturer of my jacket is, but Ive gotten a couple/few Indy comments on it.

No. But when I wear the bag, sometimes I get asked if I am a transvestite.

Uh Rundquist,

Watchya wearing with the bag?

Rundquist wrote:No. But when I wear the bag, sometimes I get asked if I am a transvestite.

Sweet?

Indiana Bugs wrote:

Rundquist wrote:No. But when I wear the bag, sometimes I get asked if I am a transvestite.

Sweet?

From Transexual, Transylvania ??

Sorry I couldn't resist

Never once....

i showed up at a store in waynesville just this last winter. i was wearing my herbert johnson,i had on my wested at that time. todd's indy shirt. a pair of close enough pants,and my aldens.we went there to have an old cookoo clock repair man. the man's wife looked at me quite a few times.and finally she said. i'm sorry but i have to say this. your hat and the clothes you're wearing really resembles indiana jones.and i said with a huge grin thank you.and yes this is my indy gear.she said you look really nice in it.and i said thank you again. that was the best one yet.

keith

You never know where people are going to spot it...

I went to a solicitors (lawyers) office today wearing my (not very SA!) Indy jacket bought at Disney-Florida 10 yrs ago. There was a scatty secretary in her 50's who was very chatty and a bit bonkers but as she exited the office she was happily humming the raiders march... i'm guessing she spotted the Indy connection on a subconcious level!..Anyway, it made me quietly smile to myself... Can't wait to see what happens when i get my Wested if the button cuffed Disney "make do" has that effect!!!

Years ago, the security guy in the lobby of my wife's building downtown stopped me to ask about my jacket. He recognized it and wanted to know all about how I got it. I gave him the URLs of Wested and COW. That made me feel pretty good.

More recently, on my last trip to Disneyland, the Cast Member at the dock helping me off the Jungle Cruise boat said, "Let's go, Fonzie!" A Cast Member. In Adventureland! I was kind of disappointed.

-LC

Lord_Clarence wrote:More recently, on my last trip to Disneyland, the Cast Member at the dock helping me off the Jungle Cruise boat said, "Let's go, Fonzie!" A Cast Member. In Adventureland! I was kind of disappointed.

Hahaha! That just goes to show that most people wouldn't know an Indy jacket if it hit them in the face. If you were wearing Mutt's jacket, being called Fonzie would be pretty close. But an Indy jacket??? He either needs to watch Happy Days again or have his eyes checked.

All I know is this... a hat and a brown jacket = Indy. I've had a kid mutter, "it's Indiana Jones!" when I passed by him going to the car. I was wearing my cotton jacket and fedora... without the fedora, I doubt he'd have made the connection.

Well, there was the time when I took my girls out trick-or-treating back in the late 80's, I had on my old A2 jacket and a fedora. I stood in the background waiting for my daughters to get their candy and we'd then walk to the next house.

A little old lady leaned out her door of one house to give out candy, then looked up at me with candy in her hand and said 'Thats a nice outfit! You dressed as Clyde Bettie?" (an animal trainer, lion tamer and circus owner of the 40's-50's)

I kind of smiled, accepted the offered candy, tipped my hat and we walked on as my daughters giggled at the comment.

In retrospect, I guess it was a good thing. Didn't Willy ask Indy on the plane in Temple of Doom "what are you supposed to be? A lion tamer?'

So it goes.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson wrote:Well, there was the time when I took my girls out trick-or-treating back in the late 80's, I had on my old A2 jacket and a fedora. I stood in the background waiting for my daughters to get their candy and we'd then walk to the next house.

A little old lady leaned out her door of one house to give out candy, then looked up at me with candy in her hand and said 'Thats a nice outfit! You dressed as Clyde Bettie?" (an animal trainer, lion tamer and circus owner of the 40's-50's)

I kind of smiled, accepted the offered candy, tipped my hat and we walked on as my daughters giggled at the comment.

In retrospect, I guess it was a good thing. Didn't Willy ask Indy on the plane in Temple of Doom "what are you supposed to be? A lion tamer?'

So it goes.

Regards! Michaelson

I had a similar experience with my son on Halloween years ago. He dressed as Batman, I put on my leather Disney fedora and it was Batman and his sidekick Indy. We received alot of comments on how authentic I looked. Nothing I was wearing was even close to being accurate. We had quite a few chuckles that night. Since that time I have been affected, or is it infected by the madness. If only I knew then what I know now....

Regards,

Soup

I was once at a conference in the Bahamas where, on the last day, we had a costume ball where everyone was supposed to come as their favorite adventurer. Needless to say there were quite a few Indiana Jones. As far as I could tell, I was the only one there wearing actual gear from the original vendors.

What was funny is that the CEO of the company showed up as Indiana Jones as well. We were standing in the lobby and he said, "You know the problem with both our costumes?"

I said, "What's that?"

He pointed at his jacket (a shiny leather jacket) and mine (a Tony Nowak CS) and said, "We both have a zipper on our jacket. The real Indiana Jones jacketdidn't have a zipper."

Then, just to add a little more lack-of-knowledge, he pointed to my AdventureBilt Deluxe and said, "And your hat is too tall."

I just smiled.

Tony

P.S. I've had people ask me where I got my jacket but I've never had anyone walk up and recognize it as "the" jacket.

P.S. Here's a pic from that night:

Yes, I recently updated my Facebook profile photo in which I’m wearing my US Wings Legend Jacket over the 5.11’s I usually wear. One on my friends commented that I looked like an angry Indiana Jones.

Cheers,
W-W

Tundrarider wrote:Hi Tony!!! What up with suddenly posting, just like you've been here all along, when we haven't seen you for months!?!?!?



Great to see you back, and hope all is well with you and yours!

Michael

Wow, thanks for the nice comment! I feel missed! LOL

Been busy with a new project and lots of time with the kids this summer but all is well. Looking forward to the weather cooling off so I can wear my jacket a bit.
Hope you're doing well, too! Thanks again for the post!

Tony

walked into my supervisors office this morning after a weeks holiday,wearing my wested ToD and a canvas bag across my chest , he looked up and said "indiana jones is back from his adventure" . (of course i just smiled as if it was just a coincidence )

Good question...never been recognized by a non-fan.

Once I was in a store and a guy was wearing a Wested and he thought mine was a Wested (but my Wested was at home)--we talked shop for a few minutes aand discussed the Expo. I don't recall his name or his "handle" at the moment, though.

The only time my jacket was recognized as an Indy jacket was in Egypt.

We were visiting the pyramids when someone said: "Hey, you look a bit like Indiana Jones in that jacket".

Besides my jacket, I was just wearing jeans, a T-shirt and no hat at all.

So I guess the environment also plays a role.

Other then that, the only comments I get are: "Nice looking jacket, man. Love these straps".

One of the great benefits of this hobby is you can wear different parts of the uniform as part of your daily wardrobe and still be considered sane. The same can’t be said for a Star Wars gear head traipsing around town in his Stormtrooper get-up. That might receive a few side-ways glances. Indy gear-heads can blend in, disappear.

Michaelson wrote:I once wore a khaki shirt and trousers to work, and had one of our military students ask me if I had been a military prisoner.

He said that was the outfit usually issued to Marine prisoners State side.

Uh, ok.

Regards! Michaelson

Here a couple of weeks ago I was doing a communion service for residents at a nursing home, wearing a black short sleeve polo shirt with khaki pants, khaki web belt and my Aldens and was asked by one of the residents if I was a military chaplain. Ya just never know what people will come up with. W>

Was standing in line at the post office wearing my Indy hat, shirt, and jacket when a lady back of me said, "heck, did you just got from a safari or something?" I told her yes.

Gailen

My jacket never gets recognized. Everyone thinks its a WWII style jacket. Once while wearing a black t underneath with some khakis, someone told me I looked like a WWII Special Forces Spy...lol.

I wore mine to the Raiders screening in Hamilton, Ontario for the digital presentation. Not one person had a clue. I think it's only hardcore Indy fans that will recognize the jacket.