In 2020, thanks to Corona, I spent the Easter holidays and my birthday exclusively with myself. Coincidentally, I had made myself a present shortly before that.
I can’t remember what was cool in the 1980s. I didn’t even care, because I knew exactly what I thought (and still think) was cool: Steve McQueen in The Great Escape. So one of the biggest wishes during my teenage years was an A2 leather flight jacket. Of course, this wish remained unfulfilled. Where would you have found something like that in Austria back then!
At the beginning of 2020 I had an unexpected attack of nostalgia and suddenly remembered this meaningful piece of clothing. Now I had the opportunity and the money to make my wish come true. But times had changed, and above all I had changed. My youthful enthusiasm had been replaced by an age-old sense of practicality. Blousons are very uncomfortable because they slip up all the time. I also needed a new winter jacket, not a between-seasons jacket.
My own birthday present was not a homage to Steve McQueen but a homage to The Great Escape. I bought myself a wonderful, warm, comfortable Irvin RAF flying jacket.
Some wishes can’t be fulfilled, because honestly: with or without A2 jacket, nothing and nobody will ever reach the coolness of Steve McQueen. Clothes don’t always make the man.
