The black leather bomber jacket, which featured heavily in TV series and films throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, is making a glorious comeback.

TV cop shows The Sweeney and Starsky and Hutch were two extremely popular programmes that regularly featured the fashion of the era, and leather jackets and coats starred in both shows. In the London-based special squad spectacular 'The Sweeney', leather sports jackets were all the rage, and even L.A. based Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson, played by David Soul also favoured the ‘formal’ look, but their familiar sidekicks and many a villain stuck firmly with the bomber or biker jacket.

Although both series’ featured plain clothes coppers, the garb featured in the series was anything but plain, and fans religiously followed the exciting trends. Another item of clothing popular with David Starsky, other than his black bomber jacket, was the big woolly cardigan, has recently also re-emerged as a must have item for the men and also for the ladies.

Leather jackets were also popular on the big screen. The 1971 blaxploitation classic ‘Shaft‘, for example, became as iconic for its Academy Award winning soundtrack as the look and attitude of its eponymous protagonist, private detective John Shaft, decked head to toe in black, complete with leather jacket, gloves and trousers.

In addition to being featured in TV and films, the leather jacket’s ubiquity in rock’n’roll circles has also helped propel its resurging popularity. Worn by everyone from Elvis Presley and the punk bands of the 70s through to modern-day artists like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, rock stars have ensured that leather jackets have become a sign of independence and originality.

Today, real leather or incredibly good facsimile mock leather jackets, are available from a number of top outlets throughout the UK, and with such a wide selection of bomber jackets available in a number of colours and cuts - even hooded - there is bound to be at least one that will compliment your current look, regardless of your style sense or budget. A good leather jacket can be casual, yet formal enough to wear to work and still trendy enough for a night out. In addition to being a diverse item of clothing, quality leather jackets can, with proper care, last for years and will only look better as time goes on.

So if you’re looking to spruce up your wardrobe this spring with something trendy, yet timeless, that can be as diverse and comfortable as your favourite pair of jeans, you could do worse than getting a new bomber jacket.