The Wild One tribute

By Antonio Malara

It’s a long time since I want to create an outfit inspired by the character named Johnny played by Marlon Brando in the movie “The wild one”. In that movie Brando was the boss of a group of bikers. The story revolves around his band and the troubles they created with another band of bikers once they met in a small town. The movie it’s more about rebellion than violence and it shows also feelings. Johnny is a free spirit and don’t want a life that is already “programmed”. Btw in the town he met a girl who made him think different and opened a little bit his heart. He got into trouble but he came out alive but at the same time he was enable to love and to get a new life. He went on in the same way he came. 
Beside the beautiful story he also showed some things that became cliché. The movie is set in 1953 and the outlaw biker and his outfit were on the big screen for the first time. The black leather jacket, the boots, the withe t-shirt and the hat. The movie and the style it shows, become influential and an inspiration for generations.

Today we still have that exactly replica of that jacket and in the last few years lots of people, famous and non famous wore it. That jacket it’s still a trend now as it was sixth years ago.
As I said I really wanted to do some kind of replica about the outfit even to prove that sometimes fashion can last for decades and still being cool and trendy. Today it’s easy to find the same kind of biker jacket (with the belt in the bottom) the same boots (those with the ring in the sides) so technically you can wear the identical outfit. This isn’t my favorite look but I was so inspired by  Marlon Brando style that I wanted to make a tribute.

I already had the biker jacket by Zara that I bought a couple of years ago. This model is the classic biker but without belt on the bottom. I used my Dsquared2 jeans that I also wore here but now even this piece has been modified on the ankle (more tight). The white t-shirt is by Plein Sport, I bought online in other two variations just because it’s was 50% off. Even if the t-shirt is good quality I think it is overpriced like all Plein stuff. The boots I wear are from Faruk Sagin, is the black version of the brown I wore here. This boots are casual and simple, are pretty different from those in the movie. This is an intentional choice I did because I could buy online the same boots that Johnny has in the movie. That model it’s too “extreme” in my opinion, it’s really for those people who own an Harley Davidson. What I wanted was a boots useful for a casual look but that can also be used with a shirt. I decided not to wear the hat even if at the moment the rock hat is so popular especially for women and can be found anywhere online. 

The result is right what I wanted, not an exactly copy of Johnny’s outfit but a rebel but regular look. In my opinion what people notice about it is just the jacket but this is good.
This is my first tribute outfit to an actor-movie that I love, I have another one in mind that is in some way related to this. Unfortunately I think I’ll post after summer because I want to show other look first.

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Biker Jacket: Zara
Jeans: Dsquared2
T-shirt: Plein Sport
Boots: Faruk Sagin
Sunglasses: Ray Ban

​Photo: Maria Chiara Malara