- The sleeveless puffer jacket has become a staple in French wardrobe.
- Why is this garment so successful?
- And above all, what does the sleeveless down jacket from our society say?
Well, the year has started enough to finally get down to business and ask real questions: what is this delirium with the sleeveless puffer jacket? The most attentive will have already noticed that for several years now, the down jacket has reigned supreme as soon as the thermometer drops below 10 ° C: in the “puffy” version, oversized and very inflated, or the “light” version, light and discreet. If one is worn for style and signs a look, the other willingly hides under a pea coat or jacket to protect from the cold. Is.
But what we didn't necessarily see coming was the emancipation of the light down jacket (known as the “Uniqlo down jacket”), which is now flying on its own, and in its most improbable version: sleeveless. Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, WITHOUT sleeves. If we really have nothing personal against its followers - including Jean-Pierre Elkabbach who has been sporting it for ages - a question puzzles us: why inflict it on ourselves?
A “super practical” jacket
"As soon as the temperature starts to rise, it's ideal for going out without staying in" indoor attire ", but also without putting on a real coat, a big down jacket. Basically, it is a hyper practical in-between for a short outing, or to drive on a scooter without "equipping" against the cold, "explains Jean, a Parisian thirty-something who regularly carries around this daily clothing UFO in the open space of the editorial office of 20 Minutes . Same speech with François, a leader of start-ups who wears it summer and winter, with or under nothing above: "It is above all very practical, inexpensive, not fragile and easily replaceable". Nothing extraordinary, you would say, except that we are already touching the problem. Because what do we blame for the light sleeveless down jacket (which we will call "DLSM"), except that it is very practical, but above all very ugly?
But where does the down jacket come from? Appeared in the 1950s and reserved for the sports field, particularly for winter sports, it experienced its golden age in the 1980s and 90s in a streetwear spirit, adopted in particular by hip-hop culture. But this big down jacket, which has been making a nice comeback for several years, has little to do with its little sister, the light down jacket, launched in the late 2000s by Japanese brands like Muji. or Uniqlo. "It was initially a warm but bulky garment, the design teams therefore sought to make it significantly lighter while retaining its main purpose of keeping us sheltered from the cold," explains Uniqlo.
A change in functionality
"There was a change in functionality in the down jacket, which from" last layer ", became a 2nd or 3rd layer, below a coat, between a sweater and a scarf for example," says Dinah Sultan, stylist at Peclers, a trends consulting agency. It provides the solution of warmth, but much less that of style ”. And what interest to take the sleeves off? Always that damn practicality. "You gain mobility, so it allows you to be warm and to be free to move," says the stylist. To sum up, DLSM is doubly practical, but is not intended to be visible.
So why do some persist in wearing it brazenly without anything on it? In a way, it would be like walking around in pants… "It is not a real coat in the sense that it does not protect from the real cold or the rain, but I would say that it is like a light jacket spring, ”says Jean. A ugly spring jacket then? " Very wrong ! I'm a fan of "tight" and rather tight outfits, he continues, so I find the sleeveless down jackets close to the body aesthetic, which keep their original shape. But I would not wear "big" sleeveless puffer jackets, I think it's a mess. So we come to a question of image.
Better than a fleece?
If women seem to have been a little more spared by the DLSM - apart from Isabelle Balkany -, it operated a mini-revolution in the male wardrobe, generally less open to fantasy and extravagance. "With Uniqlo the" upper casual "style has arrived," casual wear "but with a slightly more formal and relaxed vision, explains Dinah Sultan. He mixes materials inspired by outdoor and sport with a cloakroom that belongs to office workers and those who have daily clothing obligations. "And this is the case of François, our experienced DLSM carrier:" I started to wear it for work, it was mainly used as a marketing tool for my professional activity and it is now part of my habits ".
Another example of the colonization of the down jacket in business, that of the group order of DLSM by Côme, who works in a human resources team within a Parisian SME: “We have fairly cold premises with a lot of currents of 'air, and for that we were suggested to order fleeces for employees. But I thought they were super ugly and since the down jacket was in fashion, I thought maybe it was something that people could reuse out of business. As the objective is possibly to wear it outside, it is good visibility for the box, better than a fleece ”. A great success. "Some refused to order them for their teams because they found them ugly but it is very rare, the others are quite happy and almost all the services ordered them," he said.
Contamination of the corporate world
It would therefore seem that "sleeveless down jacket" has "contaminated" the business world. "In a few years, by its practical and cozy side , it has established itself as an essential, a real basic in the corporate wardrobe", assured Le Figaro at the end of 2019, in an article illustrated with a photo of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, proudly displaying his DLSM. Insiders will appreciate this perfect mix of grip and relaxation.
"Clothing is a code and what we also like is playing with codes," analyzes Denis Bruna, fashion historian and chief curator of the museum at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. The down jacket is basically a sportswear item, and in a way we could draw a parallel with the sneakers. In the 1990s, we started to wear these sneakers identified by the majority of people as being athletic shoes, with a very strict gray suit for men, or a suit for women. It was a way of opposing and playing with different codes, as probably with the down jacket that has crept into the much more conventional business environment. "
A new uniform?
The question is now to know if the down jacket “encanailles” the working world, or if on the contrary, it becomes a new uniform. “The tuxedo is considered the most conventional, most formal garment in the male wardrobe. But barely a century ago, it was considered the most casual garment of the bourgeoisie! All in all, the down jacket is experiencing a shift in codes that almost all clothing has experienced. We are witnessing a new reversal of the down jacket, ”observes Denis Bruna.
Sports jacket, formal jacket, second layer… Is the down jacket now the perfect jacket for a work world that is both serious and uninhibited, and by extension, the new uniform of the start-up nation? “I agree with the relaxed but formal side: I have more reluctance to put a hooded sweater at work than a sleeveless down jacket. But concerning the "start-up nation" side, I am more on the idea of "smart action", nuance Jean. Without conceptualizing the thing too much, I find that the sleeveless down jacket has an adventurous side (so action) but without the "heaviness" of sports equipment (so smart)…. It conveys a notion of dynamism: I'm sitting, I'm not doing anything crazy, but having it on me evokes the fact that I can leave at any time. From now on, you will no longer look at your sleeveless down jacket as before.
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