Movie Costume: James T. Kirk in Star Trek

By Sophie Cheung

Chris Pine plays the young James T. Kirk in the 2009 movie rendition of the classic American science fiction series, Star Trek. In the beginning part of the movie, Kirk is portrayed as the extremely intelligent but cocky and rebellious bad boy. The character's personality is given further emphasis through this scene (pictured above), where he's wearing the iconic black motorcycle leather jacket while he's--almost typically--riding his motorcycle down a road in his hometown in Iowa. The leather jacket received its notoriety through American and British youth in the late 1950s and 60s as well as pop culture films such as Brad Pitt in Fight Club and John Travolta in Grease. Additionally, in real life, those who are often associated with wearing the leather jacket are typically people who are perceived as either tough or rebellious, or both: bikers, military aviators, rock stars, punks, and police. They wear the leather jackets either for protection or intimidation purposes, but pop culture has helped propel and sustain the stereotype of leather jackets even further as going hand in hand with the rebellious image.