How2Day: Sweatshirt Jacket Ideas

Sweatshirt jackets were originally performance apparel targeted toward athletes. Jordan Siemens/Digital Vision/Getty Images
The basic sweatshirt jacket has changed over the years. Traditionally associated with comfort and high-performance, this functional jacket was originally targeted toward athletes. However, as break dancing influenced pop culture in the 1980s, tracksuit jackets started to target teenagers. In recent collections, designers have stretched the idea of the sweatshirt jacket even further, using high-quality jersey and tailored styles to produce a jacket that they can market to an older, more cosmopolitan clientele.

The blazer has been an important jacket in women's sportswear since the mid-1800s. Designers such as Coco Chanel and Bill Blass have reinvented the blazer over the years, making it in everything from boucle to velvet. In recent years, the range of fabric has been broadened into luxury jersey, otherwise known as sweatshirt material. What once was a very structured jacket, suitable for businesses and semi-formal occasions, is now a part of contemporary collections stripped down into a cozier and more casual jacket. This sweatshirt jacket is still more formal than the traditional tracksuit jacket, as it can be paired with jeans, making it suitable for weekend wear.

The leather motorcycle jacket as it is known today debuted in the 1940s thanks to two motorcycle and leather goods manufacturers, Harley Davidson and the Joseph Buegeleisen Co. Even though the sweatshirt version consists of thick jersey material, it maintains many of the classic leather jacket elements: It is a fitted jacket, with an asymmetrical closure, broad collar and very obtrusive zippered pockets. In fact, the only aspect the sweatshirt motorcycle jacket lacks is the leather's stiffness, as jersey material tends to drape closer and softer over the body.

Traditionally a naval coat, the peacoat was a staple in the classic British sailor's uniform. Then in the 1960s, the iconic Jacqueline Kennedy wore the peacoat, which became known as "the Jackie O coat." Another piece of structured outerwear gone soft, the double-breasted peacoat loses its hard lines when fashioned out of sweatshirt material. Some contemporary designers have retained the elegance associated with Kennedy, as newer versions of this sweatshirt jacket are available in luxurious, heavy-weight jerse, and feature sleeker buttons.

A cross between a jacket and a cropped poncho, capelets have been incorporated into various contemporary collections--from evening to casual wear. An evolution of the Edwardian and Victorian cloaks, the capelet was a form of outerwear available in various fabrics depending on the intended use: Satins and velvets were predominant for evening wear, while woolen fabrics better suited day-time attire. Fabricating the capelet in sweatshirt jersey is a more recent trend, as designers have created more casual versions for outerwear. Using mid- to heavy-weight jersey material, these short capes can be short sleeved, have 3/4 length sleeves or be sleeveless, which are all tributes to the original designs.

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