Club Obi Wan

I remember reading a few posts that discussed the possible reasons why Indy wears a leather jacket in the Amazon, and other warm weather climates. There was something about "it's good for mosquitos and bugs", or some such on those lines. Let me tell you, that's bunk. I'm in Siem Reap, Cambodia, visiting Angkor Wat and all the other temples here. It's February, and the temperature has been stupidly humid. I've tramped all around temples that could have been lifted straight from the set of any Indy flick. At least a few of these temples were used in the filming of Tomb Raider. Let me tell you, as I have been sweating myself stupid this week in shorts and t-shirts, that the last thing I would want to wear in this climate is a leather jacket, wool pants, and boots. The very last thing.

I think the reason it's worn is simple: it looks awesome. Like a rolled up pack of smokes in James Dean's white t-shirt, it just looks cool. Why wear a leather jacket and carry a whip? Because that's how an explorer should look. So put me firmly in the category of people who believe that in real-life tropical climates, the Indy ensemble would be pure torture and completely impractical.

Yeah. There's a reason safari jackets are made out of cotton, like there's a reason people wear linen or seersucker suits in the South during the summer.

Unless a material can breath your body's natural air conditioner, which is dependent on evaporation, doesn't work. You might wear leather at night, or in the early morning, but unless it's seriously ventilated, wearing it mid-day is an invitation to getting heat stroke.

Where I live it hits 110+ in the summer and I generally won't wear leather even when riding a motorcycle on the freeway. The risk of passing out from heat stroke simply outweighs any possible benefit of having the extra protection. I've got mesh jackets with a hydration vest for that kind of weather.

Torture and completely impractical, that's right. Yet, the vision for the character was such. In my travels to Brasil, and twice to the Amazon, the last thing you want to be wearing is heavy clothes, wool, leather jackets, etc. Fortunately for Ford, they filmed the opening sequence in Hawaii, where it is not so hot and humid. Yet when you visit hot, humid places, natives will usually be wearing shorts, t-shirt or muscle shirt and flip flops. Even a polo shirt, though more presentable in social occasions, can be too hot.

My attempt was to try to bridge the notion of make believe, for the vision the three had for this character with reality. Therein lies the challenge and the problem, sometimes. About the only way you can try to find parity, for an explorer in the 1930's trekking through the jungle in a leather jacket, is to say that maybe he used it as protection against, razor grass, poisonous plants and mosquitoes, pre-Off days. That is about the only way. Looks cool on film, but not very practical in real life. I've been there.

I always looked at it this way: He was just wearing what was his normal daily wear. He wasn't swauve enough to deck himself out as Belloque did in the jungle. It was just a quick in, quick out thing. Remember that even Harrison described the charactor as more a "grave robber". Hence even in the desert scenes, Belloque had the class to wear linen suits and panama hats while Indy was just kinda "finding himself" ( another term used by Harrison, Steven and George) in these skirmishes that drug themselves out longer than he had hoped and planned. But again, wool pants, leather jackets, and mostly fedoras were extremely common in their day, much like jeans, flip flops, and baseball caps are nowadays. Indy just wasnt concerned with it unless it was part of the plan, hence the suit in TOD. I alwags thought the getup in Nepal was much more questionable than the jungle scenes only cuz I have scene plenty of old 30's serial flicks with plenty of Indy look-a-likes. But never any cold enviroments flicks! And let me tell, I have never been to Nepal but I have spent some quality time with Tibetan Monks and even thry will tell you,"IT IS COLD IN TIBET!"

Well, I guess it's what was available at the time? Remember, no mesh nylon jackets/shirts in the 1930s...

I am a civil war reenactor and I tell you, I think those soldiers were absolutely crazy wearing heavy thick wool pants and coats in the heat of summer fighting in a war!!! But, that's what was available at the time...it's just what you did.

I chalk the Indy costume up as that. Not too sure about the leather jacket, but the rest, well, it's what was available I guess..

it was for the most part, a very period accurate form of attire.

Temperature aside, I know from experience that leather garments and high humidity don't mix.

Can you say mildew?

Organic material does not hold up in hot & humid conditions, that's why the British went with khaki/cotton, web belts and other breathable cloth in India and Burma.

I believe it was the British who made 'Bermuda shorts' part of military attire, named after their island territory. I know they were used in WW2, but I'm not sure when they were used earliest.

Illinois James wrote:I believe it was the British who made 'Bermuda shorts' part of military attire, named after their island territory. I know they were used in WW2, but I'm not sure when they were used earliest.

And, don't forget Ghurka shorts! W>

I like that theory that the outfit was a sort of general get up that just was worn all over the place. It sort of makes sense that way. Indy dresses in suits in class, but transforms into the outfit when he goes out on a hunt. Maybe it will be hot, maybe cold. But the outfit doesn't change. It also helps explain the gloves to me. I always found it funny that some scenes where you would think he would be wearing gloves, he's not. Then others he's sporting them when it doesn't make sense to do so. I guess it all goes to the "I'm making this up as I go" persona.

It's easy to over think this stuff. A fictional movie character wears what the filmmakers want him to. And back in the 1980's filmmakers gave much less of *#!! about verisimilitude than they do now

All true enough, but I can say that I wore my entire Indy outfit (including Wested lambskin Raiders jacket) in the Mojave Desert outside of Las Vegas for an hour or so in the mid-day heat, and it actually wasn't that bad. I think the shiny finish on the leather actually reflected the sun's heat, but when I took off the jacket and placed it on the ground to get some pictures of the outfit without the jacket, the thing was hot as fire when I went to pick it up a few minutes later! The leather felt like I'd grabbed onto a hot pan in the stove! And I will also attest that Indy's outfit is impractical where I live in the deep south, especially in the summer. Even though I've always opted for 100% breathable cotton in my jackets, it's still humid, and the cavalry twill wool pants are very uncomfortable if the temperature is more than 75-degrees. So the consensus is definitely true: Indy's outfit was designed to look cool on film, regardless of whichever inhospitable environment he's exploring.

But I think we are over thinking and missing the point....it is a film with a story set in the 1930's. That outfit is basic wear for a man of that period. Anything more and he would probly be dressing like Belloque.
Now, for those of you who like to look at it terms of non-fiction, it was a film set in the 1930's.....SS has made reference many times about how the film was designed to pay homage to the 1930 serials where the hero had the same outfit throughout and " never loses his hat"!.
Now, within either of those basics, the made a normal 1930's casual man's outfit look really cool by making adjustments that would suit their hero but it still boils down to......
Thats what they wore in the 1930's!
Just saying........

Hmm... I wonder what kind of clothes they wore back in the 1930's?

Well, a period accurate Indy would more likely have worn an A1 leather jacket and corduroy pants.

True, or a light weight cowhide halfbelt that anyone could purchase from catalogs from Sears or Montgomery Wards at the time. They were very popular.

Regards! Michaelson

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It was not uncommon for fans of yesteryear, and not so long ago, to get dressed up and go to a professional baseball game. It was not against conventional mores at the time to do so. People genuinely believed that if you were going to be seen in public, even window shopping, then you'd better be looking your best. The look was classic and class-y.

Yet you contrast these attitudes with those of today, and in most parts of the country, it would be unthinkable to attend a baseball game dressed in a suit during a mid-summer's game. Paradigm shift, not just in the motives, for more comfortable, informal and practical attire; but also attributable to advancements in materials, to light weight and breathable.

As it would be unthinkable for the fans of today to attend a baseball game dressed up, as with the fans of yesteryear, to step out without dressing up would be unthinkable.

Indian Bones was not altogether out of character for the 1930's, but he was all-together as a character.

It wasn't all that long ago that the paradigm shifted either, Tex. My folks dressed up back through the 1960's to go to town, and only went KIND of casual when grocery shopping....but would NEVER EVER show up outside the house wearing what they wear on a regular basis today!........but that's probably a topic best saved for another thread.
There's what society expects, and what reality dictates. I'd still suggest the 30th anniversery lambskin USW Legend for this situation. You'll at least get use out of it at altitude and cool nights.
Regrds! Michaelson

Sorry Michaelson, one more comment - people stopped dressing up (if that's the term) as the 1960's ethos coalesced. My dad was a laborer on building sites in the 1940's-50's. He wore a suit to work. Sure they were tough and made of good fabric. But imagine that today. Kind of amusing to think of Indy wearing one of his older suits to digs....