Dutch's jacket in Predator???
- Thread starter Docbudo
- Start date
Hey folks, recently watched Predator again and wanted to know what the Jacket was for myself as I figured it would make a cool everyday wear jacket but also be good for a costume. Well after looking around on the internet, I found nothing conclusive...
But I did find this thread haha.
So gonna revive it with some deductions I have made. Whether anyone on this thread is still bothered or not I don't know but I figured I'd record my findings somewhere as it might help someone else in the same predicament.
Firstly I noticed that the other members of the rescue team also have the small zipper pocket on the left bicep of their combat shirt/jackets. Seeing as this wasn't a feature of US military M81 woodland BDUs of the era it lead me to believe something along the lines of it being a subtle creative choice to make the team members look slightly more uniform, like they are part of the same team/unit etc, all the while having their own quirks and character design choices. The in-lore reasoning I would guess would be that historically special forces operatives have been known to "field mod" their kit so that its more useful to them i.e adding pockets in what was previously empty space. This reasoning says to me that it is not an off the shelf item of clothing and was probably made custom for the film.
Next thing is that it looks like both Dutch and Poncho wear the same style of jacket. Same colours, same rolled cuffs, same breast pockets, same collar and the same left bicep zipper pocket. Can't be sure exactly why but this helps identify it a bit more.
For the bicep zipper pocket it looks as if its stitched flat along the top and opening side and then the bottom and rear lengths have a slight gusset to them to allow some more room in the pocket. Although watching the film it looks like nobody really uses them and they're purely aesthetic. Perhaps you could fit a packet of cigarettes and a lighter snuggly haha. It looks like both the woodland camouflage jackets and the brown jackets have been attached the same way which can be seen in most photos I've included but the best shot I think is this:
The following screen-cap is the only really clear shot that exposes most of the jackets breast pocket(s) which look to just be plain square-flap closed, without gussets. I'd guess they have 2 buttons that are concealed within the flap but anyones guess is as good as mine.
As for the main zipper that closes up the jacket, I think it has been added to an existing shirt of some kind in such a way that it is hidden behind an extra flap. Not only that but the zip seems to start from the bottom about 15cm up and then goes to the very top of the collar. When on the look out for something to base this off, I'd be looking for a something that has buttons that have slots hidden behind a front piece.
The colour of the zipper tape is different to the main jacket colour which doesn't seem standard so again, more evidence to suggest its a custom piece.
The cuffs only look to be rolled up once to minimise snagging on weapons/brush and both Dutch and Poncho wear the jacket like this so if it has buttons or not, I wouldn't worry too much. However, from my personal experience wearing American BDU jackets it would be nice to be able to do up the cuffs for winter use or just generally have a fitted look to it.
All in all it's an interesting piece because it seems to be an amalgamation of several different styles of combat jacket/coat/shirt design and isn't quite one or the other.
So really I think the best thing anyone can do if they want one of these is piece it together by finding the closest possible base jacket/coat/shirt, buying a second for material to construct a bicep pocket and possibly an extra layer to hide the centre zip. I will post more findings in this thread as I will be making my own jacket, one way or another. I'm not sure on a base for it yet as I've had a look around for different shirts/colours etc and haven't made my mind up but I'll be sure to post the closest I can find. Feel free to critique my thoughts and opinions : )
Hope this helps!
ArrTee
But I did find this thread haha.
So gonna revive it with some deductions I have made. Whether anyone on this thread is still bothered or not I don't know but I figured I'd record my findings somewhere as it might help someone else in the same predicament.
Firstly I noticed that the other members of the rescue team also have the small zipper pocket on the left bicep of their combat shirt/jackets. Seeing as this wasn't a feature of US military M81 woodland BDUs of the era it lead me to believe something along the lines of it being a subtle creative choice to make the team members look slightly more uniform, like they are part of the same team/unit etc, all the while having their own quirks and character design choices. The in-lore reasoning I would guess would be that historically special forces operatives have been known to "field mod" their kit so that its more useful to them i.e adding pockets in what was previously empty space. This reasoning says to me that it is not an off the shelf item of clothing and was probably made custom for the film.
Next thing is that it looks like both Dutch and Poncho wear the same style of jacket. Same colours, same rolled cuffs, same breast pockets, same collar and the same left bicep zipper pocket. Can't be sure exactly why but this helps identify it a bit more.
For the bicep zipper pocket it looks as if its stitched flat along the top and opening side and then the bottom and rear lengths have a slight gusset to them to allow some more room in the pocket. Although watching the film it looks like nobody really uses them and they're purely aesthetic. Perhaps you could fit a packet of cigarettes and a lighter snuggly haha. It looks like both the woodland camouflage jackets and the brown jackets have been attached the same way which can be seen in most photos I've included but the best shot I think is this:
The following screen-cap is the only really clear shot that exposes most of the jackets breast pocket(s) which look to just be plain square-flap closed, without gussets. I'd guess they have 2 buttons that are concealed within the flap but anyones guess is as good as mine.
As for the main zipper that closes up the jacket, I think it has been added to an existing shirt of some kind in such a way that it is hidden behind an extra flap. Not only that but the zip seems to start from the bottom about 15cm up and then goes to the very top of the collar. When on the look out for something to base this off, I'd be looking for a something that has buttons that have slots hidden behind a front piece.
The colour of the zipper tape is different to the main jacket colour which doesn't seem standard so again, more evidence to suggest its a custom piece.
The cuffs only look to be rolled up once to minimise snagging on weapons/brush and both Dutch and Poncho wear the jacket like this so if it has buttons or not, I wouldn't worry too much. However, from my personal experience wearing American BDU jackets it would be nice to be able to do up the cuffs for winter use or just generally have a fitted look to it.
All in all it's an interesting piece because it seems to be an amalgamation of several different styles of combat jacket/coat/shirt design and isn't quite one or the other.
So really I think the best thing anyone can do if they want one of these is piece it together by finding the closest possible base jacket/coat/shirt, buying a second for material to construct a bicep pocket and possibly an extra layer to hide the centre zip. I will post more findings in this thread as I will be making my own jacket, one way or another. I'm not sure on a base for it yet as I've had a look around for different shirts/colours etc and haven't made my mind up but I'll be sure to post the closest I can find. Feel free to critique my thoughts and opinions : )
Hope this helps!
ArrTee
Hi again folks,
Searching on various surplus shop websites recently I came across the 'US flyers flight shirt, OG 106, hot weather' which is very similar to the ones seen in the movie, possibly even the inspiration. Not so common these days and I'm not sure if they made different colours of this or if it can be faded/dyed easily being made of nomex.
I actually completely forgot I had a complete set of this and trousers for a vietnam war helicopter pilot impression I put together for events years ago.
If you can find one for cheap and in a good size it might be worth picking up and experimenting with dye for a very close match.
Since my last post on this thread I have made some progress with various modern BDU style shirts but not finished yet. Will be posting the results when its done.
Signing out,
ArrTee
Searching on various surplus shop websites recently I came across the 'US flyers flight shirt, OG 106, hot weather' which is very similar to the ones seen in the movie, possibly even the inspiration. Not so common these days and I'm not sure if they made different colours of this or if it can be faded/dyed easily being made of nomex.
I actually completely forgot I had a complete set of this and trousers for a vietnam war helicopter pilot impression I put together for events years ago.
If you can find one for cheap and in a good size it might be worth picking up and experimenting with dye for a very close match.
Since my last post on this thread I have made some progress with various modern BDU style shirts but not finished yet. Will be posting the results when its done.
Signing out,
ArrTee
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