Step on the gas with House's cool leather biker jacket

Hugh Laurie's genius doc knows a thing or two about dressing well.

By the second season of House, much of the show’s familiar parts were in place. We had Gregory House (played with an incredible American accent by posh Brit, Hugh Laurie), a ‘maverick’ diagnostician (would we be interested in any other kind?) whose blunt, cruel and cynical personality, not to mention dependence on painkillers, should make him a hopeless doctor and yet he’s blessed with that touch of genius that allows him to play medical miracle worker

We had his diagnostic team of eager-to-please youngsters, which has changed over the years, but is still there snapping at his heels, ready to make the wrong diagnosis so that House can swoop in at the final minute and show them the error of their ways; and his two more senior pals – Cancer doc, Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) and hospital administrator, Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). And yet there was one thing lacking – House’s jacket.

No lab coat for House, who’s never acted the part of the caring doc with the gentle bedside manner and so has never looked the part either. Instead he and his cane shuffle about in sneakers, casual shirts worn over T-shirts and jeans looking more studenty than any of his underlings (especially Foreman who rocks the three-piece suit!) and it isn’t until the fifth episode of the second season that the jacket makes its big entrance, but when it happens there’s no missing it.

“What’s with the jacket?” asks a curious Cameron (Jennifer Morrison). “It keeps me warm,” replies House, “and cool.” And we’ve got to hand it to him, the guy’s always right about medical stuff and he’s bang-on here. The jacket is undeniably cool, so cool in fact that even slight changes over the seasons have been picked up on by eagle-eyed fans.

There’ve been no changes to the jacket itself which is the Model B from respected leathers brand, Vanson Leathers, a classic leather biker with two hand pockets, one zip close pocket on the left chest and zip close sleeves, but it’s the jacket’s patches which have been under revision. Originally the patch on the right side of his chest read ‘KTAI Sports’ in red lettering against a white background, however this was changed pretty speedily (and we mean speedily, as in the same episode) to say ‘RTAI Sports’. This might have escaped the attention of many TV fans but not House lovers. He has an incredible eye for detail as do his followers apparently.

There are other patches as well – on the left arm, beneath the stripes is one that says ‘Energy*Station CUSTOM Deuches*Pick-up’; and on the right are two more, one a gold circle star against a white background and the other a square with ‘92’ written in white against black. These patches were customisations made by the show’s wardrobe department, the Model B not originally sold with these on (though has been since thanks to the popularity of House), while the horizontal arm stripes (two white sandwiching a red one) were an optional add-on. All working together to create one of TV’s most iconic jackets.

So if you fancy channeling a bit of House cool (though perhaps without the crappy attitude), we’ve got some fantastic biker leather jackets. For our US readers, there’s the original Model B jacket from Vanson Leathers and a set of replica patches to help you whip up your own House jacket. Or if sewing’s not your strong suit (join the club!), there are two spot-on lookalikes which have the patches and stripes in place and are ready to go.

Sadly, these aren’t available in the UK, so instead we’ve spotted some jackets that work the same style with interesting biker details. It was either that or a lab coat and we didn’t think Greg would approve.