Amelia Earhart Jacket – Abandoned Republic

The stunning illustrations in the Fall 1986 catalogue were done by staff artist Peggy MacGovern, the resident leather rendering expert working in burnished colored pencils. Amazing work!

The mouton-free 1987 version in dark brown.

This amazing jacket was made in two different styles. The Fall/Xmas 1986 version is brown with a button-on mouton collar attachment and striped lining (photos courtesy Tiff Wimberly). The following year they offered the jacket in dark brown without the attachment and with a quilted lining. The 1987 version is pictured below thanks to fellow collector Kimberlee English Anderson.

From the catalogue: “Shortly after learning to fly, Amelia Earhart decided she had to look the part of an aviatrix. “It was 1922,” she later wrote. “Somehow I’d contrived to save twenty dollars. With it I bought…an elegant leather coat. Patent leather! Shiny and lovely.” A little too shiny, she soon realized. Who would take her seriously in a coat that looked brand-new? “So I slept in it for three nights to give my coat a properly overturn appearance. When I decided not to go to bed in it any loner, I did give it a last going over-rubbing the sheen off here and there.” No such contortions are necessary to our own homage to “A.E.”: We’ve buffed the soft, supple lambskin to look and feel as though you’ve had it for years. For further authenticity: an action back and gusseted underarms to move freely in the cockpit or on the ground; a quilted lining to insulate at any altitude; waist and cuff tabs to cinch against drafts; six pockets for incidental gear. And we dded a bit of luxury Amelia did without: a button-on mouton collar. True, all this will set you back more than her twenty dollars. But you’ll sleep a lot more comfortably. “