The varsity jacket, also known as a baseball jacket or preppy jacket, is a favorite among fashion insiders, especially during these transitional weeks. While the days of summer may be behind us, some of the designs seen on the runways of fashion week will help you successfully face those cool and rainy days. Fashion has always taken inspiration from the university world: Letterman sweaters, rugby shirts, blazers with badges, classic loafers, pleated skirts, and varsity bomber jackets. This trend has a special nostalgic flavor that takes us back to our teenage years, especially this Fall/Winter 2024.
How do you wear baseball jackets in Fall/Winter 2024? Isn’t that what makes us feel a little young even though that era is more or less distant? In fact, a pair of comfortable jeans or a gray sweatshirt never goes missing in our wardrobes, and they come out in time for “casual Friday” or when we don’t want to think too hard about what to wear in our free time, when blazers and tailored pants have been relegated to a chair. University jackets signify freedom and unconcern. After all, oversized polos, embroidered cardigans, knitted sweaters, and varsity jackets seem to be the best choice this season. And the trend is confirmed from New York to Milan Fashion Week.
That’s why, every now and then, we see elements of classic preppy style resurface, which designers reinterpret in a contemporary key. I’m thinking of Marc Jacobs’ spring 2016 show, where models strutted down the runway showing their pride for the Bobcats, wearing reimagined collegiate striped sweatshirts, or in Anna Sui’s spring 2017 collection, where we saw a group of cheerleaders dressed in incredible university outfits marked with the initials ‘AS’. If we look at the recent Fall/Winter shows, Prada and Tommy Hilfiger decided to bring back the varsity bomber jacket, altering it according to their own stylistic visions, more or less close to those of the American university world and European catwalks, at the same time. Confirmation of this trend also comes from street style, as Gigi Hadid and Ghali sported it before seeing it on the runway during these past few weeks of fashion week.
The varsity bomber jacket, an American classic
After a year out of New York Fashion Week, Tommy Hilfiger has returned to his ways. It was the perfect occasion to celebrate classic American fashion and its casual style. For the Fall/Winter 2024 collection, he reintroduced sporty classics: khaki pants, a polo shirt, a dark blue knitted sweater, and a baseball jacket. Upon closer inspection, it’s a fleece jacket with contrasting whiskey-colored leather sleeves, pressed clip buttons, and the finishing touch of the letter “H”, Tommy Hilfiger’s hallmark. The final look is decidedly preppy: The outerwear was combined with a beige turtleneck sweater and a gray mini skirt with a belt at the hips.
The leather bomber jacket, the sophisticated version
This jacket is the meeting point between two great designers: Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada. The classic varsity jacket model here maintains the proportions and all the distinctive elements, the clip buttons as well as the collar, cuffs and elastic striped waistband, while the initial is that of the house (Prada), here presented in two fonts, one original with the logo and the other closer to the lettering of the great universities of Boston. This makes this varsity bomber jacket contemporary and, of course, the choice of leather in black or cream tones defines a sporty chic aesthetic more rigorous than the colored fleece models found elsewhere.
Baseball or varsity jackets to buy right now
Here, the Vogue editors have gathered the best styles to wear this season.
