K/R Bernardo Leather Moto (Nordies 1/2 Yearly sale bargain) - YouLookFab Forum

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K/R Bernardo Leather Moto (Nordies 1/2 Yearly sale bargain)

Staysfit

Veteran

I stumbled on this charcoal leather jacket for almost half off the original price. It could be a contender for my wardrobe. I have looked at multiple grey leather jackets with design flaws or major fit issues. I had pretty much given up my hunt and moved grey leather jacket to my HEWI list. Then on cue, one appears that could work. The leather is butter soft and light weight. I have never purchased any Bernardo Brand items before but the quality seems good. The stitching looks even and strong. It is nicely lined. This is a size small, which was the smallest size they had available when I ordered. It might be a smidge big for me in the torso. I cinched in the side tabs and snapped them to the smallest fit possible. This creates some odd wrinkles and pulls in the leather that show up more towards my shoulders and look almost like folds, but I'm not sure I mind that because there is plenty of room for a sweater. I like the color much more than I anticipated although maybe it's a skosh dark? The jacket length is hard to see because of the tunic I wore today but the waist band hits perfectly at the band of my high rise jeans. (Which are sort of mid rise looking on me.) THE SLEEVES!! WOW! They are miraculously long enough. Maybe they are too long! A First!!!

So dear YLF friends, should I keep it or send it back and keep looking?

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24 replies

Latest reply was from Roxanna

RobinF

Veteran

Love it! I think it looks nice on you.

3style

Veteran

Fit of the jacket seems good. Color reads like faded black on my screen, rather than charcoal gray. So depends if that’s the aesthetic you want. Overall, the color does seem a little bit dark for this outfit, (possibly a bit dark, in general, for your coloring, it’s hard to tell) but maybe good with lots of other outfit combinations.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

It's hard for me to judge whether the grey is warm or cool with the wall and in that light, but I kind of love it on you!! It's a real moto, with just a slight softening...my idea, too! Black motos are just too hard edge for me. Definitely looking forward to hearing what others say. Why not style with a top you'd be likely to wear with it and get a few more pics?

judy

Veteran

I vote keep! I think it looks great on you.

Aida

Veteran

You've got a great eye for color so I'll leave that in your capable hands. Fit looks good, esp. open and it's worth having the extra room for a sweater. Looks like it's got the right amount of ease. Try with a few other kinds of tops to make sure you like the length. Otherwise, thumbs up from me!

Staysfit

Veteran

Robin F. - Thanks!

3style - What is charcoal grey anyway? Is grey some mix of black plus some white? Would that mean it’s the same as faded black? I think I would know a good heather grey if I saw it. However, my Current Elliot sweatshirt color was called faded black but I swear it’s the exact same color as DH Heather Grey Champion sweatshirt. So, maybe not? I can’t eliminate the idea that “faded black” is an expensive sounding substitution for heather grey. The term “faded” conveys that a garment Is well loved and used frequently enough to have wear and probably some charm and personality as well. In our environmentally conscious world that term has more cache than charcoal which is reminiscent of a sooty smoggy world plus the lumps of coal you get if you have been naughty. (I’m going to create color names in the future, although I don’t think I could do much better than faded black! It’s truly outstanding once you think it through!)

Suz, great idea! I clearly didn’t style this jacket! I did what I always do.....I’m such a child at heart.......I saw the Nordies package when I walked in from work. I snapped it up, ran to my room while simultaneously ripping it open and pulling it on over my work clothes. It’s a perfect match with the darkest of my neutral to warm greys. Would a lighter grey be more versatile with low contrast coloring? A mid range grey leather jacket may be the true HEWI, because I have found very light greys, and some that are much darker than this. I do have darker grey jeans that are a good match with this jacket. It looks like rain tomorrow.....a perfect day for an outfit lab and more leather jacket pictures!

Staysfit

Veteran

DH decided to weigh in on the jacket. He rarely casts a vote on my clothes, but he loves the leather jacket. He was doubly pleased with the price, $169. This may be his way of reinforcing my purchase of something on sale!

Runcarla

Veteran

I'm glad that you decided to keep the moto. It looks very good with those trousers and sandals. I am used to seeing you in pastels, and find this darker (but not black!) palate very flattering and modern looking.

jussie

Veteran

I think it looks great on you. I like the entire outfit.

JAileen

Veteran

I like it. And I looked at the color on Nordstrom’s site and liked it. I happened to see that a pair of shoes I bought recently had gone on sale, and I called them and got a price adjustment. I wouldn’t have known if not for your post, so thank you!

3style

Veteran

I’m not a fabric coloring expert. My MIL worked with hand-coloring fabric for a good part of her career, but she is in hospital so I can’t ask her right now :(. Anyway, my understanding is that faded black refers to the process of taking a black piece of fabric and bleaching it slightly, traditionally with sunlight, but I think that I am correctly remembering that nowadays a bleach effect it can be done in all manner of ways, like with lasers and ozone. So faded black looks like it has highlights and lowlights depending upon where the light hit the garment over time.

In contrast, a dark heathered gray is traditionally made by subjecting only some fibers of a yarn to the blackest dye and reserving some fibers to spend less time in the dye vat, before weaving the fabric, so that there are subtle variations in color.

However, nowadays they also make heathered gray polar fleece, which I think is essentially synthetic fibers which I think are first woven and then felted by mechanical means. In that case entire thin threads are probably extruded in various shades of gray or black. Anyway, the point is that in heathered gray the highlight and lowlight shades are densely packed together, and the net effect is a bit like sunlight reflecting on a pond on a breezy day.

In practice, I think retailers refer to “faded black” or “near black” when the black is less saturated, because of either less dye applied from the beginning (so that the raw material color comes through more) or because of something which has been made to appear bleached. “Charcoal” can be heathered, thread or can have a bit of white mixed into the black dye before the garment is knit or woven, or in the case of leather before the hide is tanned. I think being able to add white to things being dyed is a fairly recent development in the history of textiles, because dyed white non-plastic things mostly come from being colored with white clay and white clay isn’t very effective by itself as working as a dye.

Joy

Veteran

What Aida said. You know your colors. If this jacket feels right to you, I vote keep. To me charcoal grey if a very dark grey, nearly black but softer than black. That sounds like an excellent color for a leather moto jacket.

jussie

Veteran

3style what a fabulous explanation. I’m a bit fabric-obsessed so I like to learn about it.

Staysfit

Veteran

3style, thanks so much for the helpful explanation! I knew there would be a specific way to define the terms! It’s easy to see how a lack of knowledge can lead to all sorts of misinterpretation, and crazy sounding speculation, especially when you have a creative writing addiction like me! :-).

The color of this leather is very uniform. It doesn’t have much dimension. It’s not heathered, and if it’s faded, the process used created a very even effect. DH has a lovely old chocolate brown leather jacket. It started out more uniform in color than it is now, but not nearly as even as this one. I can recall it having some dimension in the coloring which I found very appealing at the time. I wonder if this grey jacket was dyed white before the final color was added to give it a more uniform look, whereas DH jacket may have been left natural and then colored the brown. (Just thinking.....)

tulle

Veteran

Wow--$169 for that jacket? That's a coup, whether you call it off-black or charcoal! I think this really suits you. The fit looks great (after all, those tightening tabs wouldn't be there if they weren't meant to be used) and the softness of the leather is a very important factor. I have an ancient black leather jacket of soft lamb leather; it has faded over the shoulders from the sun, and worn at the seams & edges so that it now looks almost bluish-gray, and I love it even more in its old age.

3style

Veteran

Looking at the photos with fresh eyes in the morning. I think that it would be really helpful to see the jacket with some more deliberate outfits and see if the proportions make sense for your style. My DH has a lovely leather jacket which is his nicest piece of clothing by far, and is about as long as the hem on your teal top. It’s kind of an elongated bomber style. If you are mostly going to continue with “long over lean” you might want something longer. OTOH, I think I remember it was you who was recently saying that you were starting to get into high rise jeans and tucked shirts. Anyway, I think it makes sense to figure out what length and color tops you are likely to most often wear going forward and build your Moto jacket preferences around that.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I think it looks terrific on you and I'm glad you're keeping it. To my thinking, soft black and charcoal are very close, almost interchangeable. I think the actual nature of the fabric affects how we perceive the color, and since leather has a little bit of sheen to it (unlike something like wool, for example), it can appear a little brighter, and this color suits you very well, since I know you don't care for deep black.

Bernardo seems pretty well made, too. I confess, I bought a Bernardo very dark brown (almost black) suede moto at the end of the season at the Rack, for -- I'm not kidding -- $20 after all the markdowns, and it is a substantial, well-made jacket! I didn't *need* more jackets, but the fit was perfect, and as I had no suede in my closet, I decided $20 was worth it! I'm glad you found such a great jacket on sale too.

gryffin

Veteran

Wow, I love this on you staysfit! I always buy my moto jackets with some ease. I would like to see the side snaps loosened just a smidge and see how they lay. But look at how the collar height is perfect in framing you beautiful swan like neck! Open is still creates an alluring and flattering line. The color, hard to assess on the monitor, looks wonderful for you. I always picture the character from Top Gun Charlotte Blackwell "Charlie" when I think of motos. Yes, they are edgy very fitted but but her slightly oversized jacket had an insouciance, practicality and downright sexiness that is lost in the obvious uber fitted version. Since my wardrobe is almost totally black, charcoal, pearl gray and a smidge of white - I am nodding with 3style and thank her for her articulate and detailed explanation. I did buy the allsaints cargo jacket which is washed, pummeled, balled up to create that perfect Harrison Ford Indiana Jones quality of well worn patina. I love it - pure and simple. Works with super dressy and casual. I did buy a pure black moto the Allsaints beattie which I wear when I need true black but there is something about this type of jacket, that has a real wow factor. It's also practical for layering making it a more transeasonal buy. Anyway, sorry long winded way of saying, I think it's awesome and looks wonderful on. 2 big thumbs up from me!!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I like it too. Fabulous.

Mainelady

Veteran

Love it! I am glad you are keeping it and hope you will post some pictures of it styled. I had to laugh when I read about you nabbing up the package and trying the jacket on immediately. I do the same thing. Then I go running for closet to see what I can properly add to the newbie and hoping to find many things that work.

Dianna

Veteran

I love it on you, I am glad you are keeping it. Nice price too.

karen13

Veteran

I think the fit looks great on you. I always like a smidge of room in jackets to layer under. Plus the color is so good.

Staysfit

Veteran

Thanks for the support everyone! I am definitely keeping this jacket! I haven’t had time to create outfits with it but it looks great when I hold it against things in my closet so I’m sure it will mix and match with numerous items as long as the proportions are right. DS took a look and he also thinks it’s worth keeping.

I have a large collection of leather jackets now, six in all! .......1. Brown Cole Hahn Scuba jacket. 2. Coral Rebecca Taylor Moto 3. Cloud/Ivory Rebecca Taylor Moto (exact duplicate of the coral jacket but in a neutral shade.....I love this style!). 4. Cool toned dark eggplant Veda cropped waterfall collar jacket used as a topper for some of my more formal dresses 5. Mid tone blue suede Veda Biker Moto (LOVE!), and now this Bernardo jacket. I never expected I would be a leather jacket person, but they seem to attract my attention, and I like wearing them indoors. The Cole Haan is the oldest, and may be about 5 years old, but it’s still a classic style, and it’s the same color as DH leather jacket, so we can wear them if we ever want to be cute like Ton and Pon! (Weren’t they sweet!) ——

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Roxanna

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I too have 6 leather jackets and wear all of them they are so versatile and add such polish to outfits, I find!