Eight-ball jacket

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David Puddy displaying his eight-ball jacket in the Seinfeld episode "The Reverse Peephole" (1998).

The eight-ball or 8-ball jacket is a style of leather jacket created by San Francisco–based designer Michael Hoban in 1990. The style is characterized by bright color-blocking and large black and white decals on the back and sleeves, made to look like the eight ball used in some cue sports. The distinctive design became trendy in 1990s fashion after being worn by athletes and hip-hop stars. The many symbolic associations of the eight ball, combined with the jacket's high retail price and celebrity associations quickly made it a status symbol for young people in the city's East Coast hip hop scene. Its popularity among youth led to robberies, some of which resulted in fatalities. Hoban's colorful designs were often counterfeited; he successfully sued a number of leather shops making knockoffs of his work. Eventually, he created a licensed diffusion line that sold lower-end versions of his jackets.

The initial trend for the jackets quickly faded, and they were soon regarded with disdain. Screenwriter Spike Feresten wrote one into the Seinfeld episode "The Reverse Peephole" (1998) in an attempt to make them seem uncool. The jackets have occasionally resurfaced in street fashion as a retro style, generally with some degree of irony. The jackets remain iconic in hip-hop culture, occasionally referenced in lyrics or featured in music videos.

Design and knockoffs[edit]

An eight ball

San Francisco-based designer Michael Hoban began creating leather fashion in the 1980s under the label North Beach Leathers.[1][2][3] In the early 1990s, he became known for a line of high-end leather jackets with bold, colorful designs in a style sometimes referred to as "biker chic". The jackets, which originally retailed for approximately $800, were popular with celebrities and were often worn by guests on The Arsenio Hall Show, a late-night talk show.[4][5] The most famous of these jackets was a style characterized by bright color-blocking and large black and white decals on the back and sleeves, made to look like the eight ball used in some cue sports. This design, first created in 1990, became popularly known as the eight-ball or 8-ball jacket.[6]

Hoban's jackets, particularly the eight-ball jacket, were commonly counterfeited or bootlegged by other designers. Harlem-based designer Dapper Dan, known for his custom knockoffs of high-end brands targeted to consumers in the hip-hop subculture, produced luxury versions of the eight-ball jacket that retailed for $1200.[6][7] Low-end counterfeit versions of the jacket sold for as little as $300, compared to the $800 price of the genuine article.[5] Hoban fought back by sending cease and desist letters to leather shops creating knockoff jackets and suing those who refused to stop. Eight shops settled out of court with agreements to stop making the knockoffs. Hoban eventually partnered with Excelled Sheepskin & Leather Coat Corp. to create a licensed diffusion line of older designs, called "Wear Me by Michael Hoban", which used lower-quality materials and sold at a lower price point of $299 compared to the mainline jackets.[8]

Original trend[edit]

Eight-ball jackets were trendy during the early 1990s, particularly in New York City.[6] They were popular with athletes like Darryl Strawberry and Bobby Bonilla, as well as hip-hop stars like Kid 'n Play.[a][9][12] Other rappers referenced the jackets in their songs.[13] Their high retail price of $800 made them status symbols for young people in the city's East Coast hip hop scene.[5][6] The eight-ball design was particularly popular in hip-hop fashion because the eight ball is symbolically associated with winning, risk, and misfortune.[b][15][16][17] The term "eight ball" is also slang for one-eighth of an ounce (3.5 g) of cocaine, although Hoban has stated that the drug connotation was unintentional.[6][13][18]

The popularity of the jackets among youth led to many owners being robbed of them, often at knife- or gunpoint. Occasionally, these robberies escalated into shootings, some of which were fatal.[19][20][21] In December 1990, it was reported that five New York youths had been shot and killed in coat-related robberies over the preceding four weeks; two were explicitly tied to eight-ball jackets.[22] In February 1991, the Los Angeles Times reported that over the preceding winter, 16 New York youths had been shot in robberies related to expensive eight-ball or shearling jackets; six had died. Some stores refused to stock the jackets for fear of being robbed.[23] In 2009, two suspects in a 1991 cold case robbery-murder associated to an eight-ball jacket were arrested.[24][25]

Legacy[edit]

The intense popularity of the jackets quickly faded, and the design has since largely been regarded with disdain. By 1992, New York hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest was using the jacket as a lyrical diss in the track "Show Business."[6] The Seinfeld character David Puddy wore one in the season nine episode "The Reverse Peephole" (1998), to the horror of his girlfriend Elaine Benes.[26] The episode's writer, Spike Feresten, later stated that he had deliberately tried to make the jacket uncool by associating it with the unfashionable character, telling The New York Times, "Obviously, it didn't work ... It's like herpes. It will always be around and some people will have it."[6] Bronx-based comedian Daniel Baker was quoted in the Times describing the jackets as being "like colorful skin on a poisonous snake ... It's nature’s attempt at warning you that this person should be avoided."[6] The original North Beach Leathers company closed in 2002.[27]

Despite the negative associations, the style has occasionally resurfaced in street fashion since the 1990s, often described as a retro or "throwback" style.[6][28][29] Ben Detrick wrote of its cyclical popularity in a 2014 New York Times article: "Like a leathery cicada, it makes its periodic return, bolstered by iconic simplicity and nefarious associations."[6] In the 2010s, streetwear brands Stüssy and Supreme produced eight-ball jackets, although Stüssy co-founder Frank Sinatra Jr. (no relation to the singer) noted that their appreciation was ironic, stating, "You cannot take the eight ball seriously."[6][30] In 2014, a New York man was charged with assault after slapping a woman who taunted him about his eight-ball jacket; the charges were dropped after a cell phone video of the incident showed she had struck him in the face with a stiletto heel shoe first.[31]

The jackets remain iconic in hip-hop culture, referenced in lyrics and sometimes seen in music videos.[9][32] Rapper Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan referenced them in his song "Blue Armor" from the 2006 album More Fish.[9] In 2014, rapper T.I. wore one in his music video for the single "About the Money".[6] Rapper Missy Elliot wore a jacket inspired by the eight-ball jacket in the music video for her 2015 single "WTF (Where They From)".[33]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Some sources claim hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa wore the jackets in the video for "Push It" (1987).[9][10] The jackets from that video pre-date the creation of the eight-ball jacket, and were actually designed by Dapper Dan.[11]
  2. ^ In eight-ball and other pool billiards games, the eight ball is the money ball. Legally pocketing it wins the game, but illegally pocketing it results in a loss.[14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Polson, Dorothee (January 11, 1988). "Hide and chic". Arizona Republic. p. 18. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  2. ^ Hanson, Holly (June 13, 1991). "Michael Hoban has seen leather's popularity rise and fall and rise again". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 65. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  3. ^ Krasnow, Iris (April 24, 1988). "Skins are in". Detroit Free Press. p. 109. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  4. ^ Hanson, Holly (June 13, 1991). "Michael Hoban has seen leather's popularity rise and fall and rise again, con't". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 71. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Krier, Beth Ann (March 13, 1992). "One of a kind". Los Angeles Times. p. E1. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Detrick, Ben (December 24, 2014). "A '90s jacket comes back into fashion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  7. ^ Darcella, Aria (September 11, 2017). "Gucci enlists Dapper Dan for its new campaign". Harper's Bazaar. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  8. ^ Krier, Beth Ann (March 13, 1992). "One of a kind, continued". Los Angeles Times. p. E8. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d "The 20 Coolest Types of Jackets in Hip-Hop History". Complex. Archived from the original on 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2022-01-27.
  10. ^ "From Sade to Siouxsie Sioux: 15 Music Goddesses to Make You Reconsider '80s Style". Vogue. 2017-08-09. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2022-01-27.
  11. ^ Adler, Dan (July 10, 2019). "Dapper Dan wants to understand every angle". Vanity Fair. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  12. ^ Borrelli-Persson, Laird (August 9, 2017). "From Sade to Siouxsie Sioux: 15 music goddesses to make you reconsider '80s style". Vogue. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Buiso, Gary (November 23, 2014). "8-ball jacket creator praises subway slapper's style". New York Post. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  14. ^ Meurin, Dawn (1993). Billiards: Official Rules & Records Book. SP Books. pp. 98–99. ISBN 978-1-56171-210-6. Archived from the original on 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  15. ^ Pooley, Eric (August 5, 1911). "Kids with guns". New York. p. 24.
  16. ^ Olderr, Steven (February 10, 2017). Symbolism: A Comprehensive Dictionary (2nd ed.). McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-9067-7.
  17. ^ Romero, Elena (April 6, 2021). Free Stylin': How Hip Hop Changed the Fashion Industry. ABC-Clio. ISBN 978-0-313-38647-3.
  18. ^ Nordegren, Thomas (2002). The A-Z Encyclopedia of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Universal-Publishers. p. 268. ISBN 978-1-58112-404-0.
  19. ^ McKinley Jr, James C. (December 9, 1990). "Two teen-agers slain in Brooklyn". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
  20. ^ "Students rewrite fashion rules in styles from baggy to bizarre". The New York Times. December 8, 1991. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  21. ^ Corbett, Don (January 7, 1991). "Teens dressed for distress". The Herald-News. p. A1. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  22. ^ "Costly coats can mean death for owners". The Billings Gazette. Associated Press. December 20, 1990. pp. 6–A. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  23. ^ Specter, Michael (February 3, 1991). "Where 'hot' coats attract cold-blooded killers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  24. ^ Cruz, Wil; Kappstatter, Bob; Goldsmith, Samuel (June 14, 2009). "Man busted in 1991 8-ball jacket killing". Daily News. p. 24. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  25. ^ Cook, Rhonda (June 13, 2009). "Cobb County man fights extradition in NY murder case". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  26. ^ Eloise, Marianne (July 5, 2019). "The 30 best Elaine moments on Seinfeld". Vulture. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  27. ^ Ellin, Abby (July 25, 2012). "Back to the '60s (and fringe) in Brazil". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  28. ^ Simmons, Ted (January 18, 2017). "Watch Migos perform "Bad and Boujee" on Jimmy Kimmel Live". XXL. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  29. ^ Campbell, Amy (October 8, 2019). "How Wu-Tang: An American Saga became a seminal display of iconic '90s hip-hop fashion". GQ. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  30. ^ Lee, Don (January 10, 1996). "Stussy Inc. president to step down". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 1, 2014. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
  31. ^ Yaniv, Oren (November 14, 2014). "Slapping 8-ball in the corner closet". Daily News. p. 20. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  32. ^ Richards, Chris (April 16, 2020). "Nightlife is on hold in D.C. — but local music still flows through our headphones". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  33. ^ Rodulfo, Kristina (November 17, 2015). "Meet the masterminds behind Missy's "WTF" video". Elle. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
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