Over the years I've owned several classic vintage leather fringe jackets. Ultimately I ended up reselling them when I was dealing vintage because, while I liked the look, I found the cut on them to be less than flattering on me.
These jackets tend to usually be rather boxy in shape and hit at a high-hip length on me, which is a recipe for making me look short and blocky.

I like the look of these jackets but realized years ago what I really wanted in one had to meet some very, very specific criteria:

• I wanted it in black rather than the traditional brown. Something about black moves it away from that "western wear" feel and into something a bit more versatile, imho.
• I didn't want anything cropped. Even though I generally prefer cropped length jackets something about an overtly cropped fringe jacket just reminds me too much of the 80's (and not in a good way).
• I wanted a longer length. Not a full length, mind you, but something that didn't hit at high hip but was shorter than knee-length or just above knee length. More of a mid-to-high thigh length was what I was looking for.
• It needed to have some degree of a fitted or more contoured shape.
• The fringe needed to be on the shorter side. No extreme swingy fringe (which ends up swinging awkwardly into things that it shouldn't. Like your soup bowl).

So, essentially something a bit more classic in it's tailoring and style than what one usually thinks of when you hear "western leather fringe jacket."

Enter my holy grail of leather fringe jackets. I randomly stumbled upon it on ebay while looking at something else a seller had for sale.

It met every criteria and then some. The leather is like butter. I have high end designer leather jackets and Chanel lambskin bags that aren't as soft and high quality as the leather of this jacket.

It has whipstitch detailing that creates contoured princess seams on both the front and the back so it has a shape that follows the contour of your body. It is black. Its' fringe is there but at an average length. The length of the jacket comes down just past my butt (so I could also wear it buttoned up with a tunic and leggings if I wanted to because I have butt coverage) but it doesn't overwhelm because the shape is contoured and yet not at all snug looking.

Bonus in that it has subtle but warm hued buttons for the toggle loops that are made from slices of shed deer antler (and the coloration combo actually goes really well with a leopard print (same tones of brown and warm golden caramel and beige).

It's not vintage (which would explain the more contoured cut). It was brand new and entirely handmade by artisans in Mexico. After much Q&A and negotiating with the seller on what Best Offer price she'd be willing to accept (she had it listed for much more than I wanted to spend and the original price tags from the boutique where it was originally sold were still on it when I received it ($895) I finally arranged to buy it for a total of $230 (which, believe it or not, is actually quite a bit more than I pay for 95% of my leather jackets. Even many of the designer ones).

I was not at all disappointed when it arrived. It was everything I had been searching for and more.

So yesterday I had a leadership offsite workshop with my company and I chose to style the jacket in a decidedly more modern way than one might normally think of when you say "leather fringe jacket."

The fedora and ultra-mod, pointy toe, high-shine Zara winklepicker chelsea boots seemed the antithesis of western style. So they were my modern counterbalance to my western jacket.

Because fringe jackets are such statement pieces I kept the color palette firmly in the realm of black and caramel. The croc pattern on the v-neck cashmere sweater was tonal enough that it worked as well.

Interestingly enough, after buying this jacket, I stumbled across these photos on Pinterest. One of Miranda Kerr wearing a YSL version of the leather fringe jacket in black and one of an AllSaints version, both styled into outfits that look much more modern than anything vintage or western-y.

So one more HEWI item checked off the list. I suspect this one will be still hanging around and getting play in my closet for an easy 20+ years.

Fedora: Ubi (I've owned this hat so long I can't remember where I bought it!)
Crocodile patterned cashmere sweater: Loro Piana (via designer consignment in Vegas years ago). BTW, this is my favorite sweater and can I just say Loro Piana makes the best cashmere sweaters I've ever had. Almost 10 years later and this sweater still looks new -no pilling, fuzziness, holes, wear. And it was pre-owned when I bought it almost a decade ago! I paid more for it than I normally do for cashmere sweaters but the CPW at this point has made it more than worthwhile.
Black high waisted skinny jeans: Levis (via consignment store)
Winklepicker style leather chelsea boots: Zara (and thanks to everyone who convinced me to keep these and that they don't make my feet look ginormous. Yesterday was my first time wearing them. I love them and got several compliments on them throughout the day).
Leather bucket bag: Vintage Chanel (via designer consignment)
Gold eye earrings: Gabriella Kiss (via ebay years ago)
Gold and Onyx ring: Vintage (via consignment years ago)
Gold snake necklace: Via a NYC jewelry designer I bought it from at a gallery show there several years ago.
Belt: Vintage Ferragamo (via designer consignment in Vegas almost a decade ago)