In central Paris, facing Tuileries Garden, Behind a heavy wooden gate of a Haussmann townhouse on rue de Rivoli locates the showroom of the French aviator jacket maker — Chapal. With the buzz sound as I entered the password, I let the heavy gate shut out noises on the busy avenue. Inside the building is tranquil, I found myself stepping on the geometric-lined mosaic floor surrounded by marble walls, sculptured ceilings with the illumination of the afternoon sunlight through the stained glass windows. It feels nothing like a luxury shopping experience but rather the 007 on a secret mission. And that’s exactly what Chapal’s clients would experience when they visit the showroom.
Who doesn’t have a leather jacket in their wardrobe? It’s beyond fashion and trend and has nothing to do with gender or age. Even my grandpa, a retired lieutenant in his eighties — an age of detachment from material desires — was yearning for a leather jacket and eventually got one with his pension last winter. The model my grandpa got was a loose-cutting long jacket in brown calf leather, which I didn’t appreciate at first. I’m more used to fit-cutting biker jackets which prevailed in fashion in the recent decade. It was not until me browsing Chapal’s catalogue did I realise the iconic 1914 Jacket was the archetype of my grandpa’s leather jacket.
With 190 years of history of tanning leathers and the savoir-faire of supplying flight jackets to the US air force during the two World Wars makes Chapal the indisputable King of classical leather jackets. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Chapal produced a long flying jacket for the French aviators. Back then, the zipper was not invented yet, so the jacket was fastened by a leather belt. Today, to memorise the legacy, the brand is still producing the same model in its collections.
