The Jimi Hendrix jacket is suddenly everywhere again

Calling it a "Jimi Hendrix jacket" might be shorthand, but the connection is real.

Hendrix was photographed in the late 1960s wearing elaborate antique military clothing, most famously a jacket based on a British hussar pelisse. 

London's National Army Museum identifies a famous 1967 Gered Mankowitz portrait as showing Hendrix in a jacket based on that military garment. The museum notes that he was photographed numerous times in antique hussar uniform.

His styling transformed the uniform. Instead of looking rigid or ceremonial, Hendrix wore military pieces against bare skin and mixed them into the flamboyant wardrobe that became inseparable from his image. 

Decorative braiding, high collars and elaborate fastenings suddenly belonged as much to psychedelic rock as they did to military history.

The jackets now casually called "Napoleon jackets" encompass several military-inspired styles. The braided hussar jacket or pelisse is a particularly important reference, and it is the style most closely connected to Hendrix.

Decades later, musicians, models and designers kept returning to the formula.

For anyone who lived through the mid-2000s, however, the jacket probably brings up another image immediately: Kate Moss at Glastonbury.

In 2005, Moss wore a cream military jacket with tiny shorts, a waist belt, boots and Pete Doherty's trilby while attending the festival. The outfit became one of the defining images of her indie-era wardrobe.

It also demonstrated the styling trick celebrities are using again in 2026. The jacket itself is ornate. Moss wore hers with abbreviated denim. 

Dua Lipa recently paired a cropped red Ann Demeulemeester military jacket with denim shorts. Jenna Ortega combined Dior's fitted military vest with a raw-hem denim miniskirt. Daisy Edgar-Jones wore her ivory McQueen version with slouchy low-rise jeans.

Then came Balmain. Under Christophe Decarnin, the French house pushed military dressing into high-glam territory at the end of the 2000s. Balmain's Spring 2009 officer jacket, complete with braiding and epaulettes, became one of the defining pieces of Decarnin's aesthetic. Vogue France notes that versions were worn by Beyoncé, Rihanna, Michael Jackson and Emmanuelle Alt.

By Spring 2010, Decarnin was still pushing the idea. Vogue's review of the collection described oversized-shouldered military tailcoats finished with metal epaulettes, part of the designer's enormously influential rock-and-roll approach to luxury.

Balmain did not invent the military jacket, of course. Its history stretched back centuries, and designers including Alexander McQueen had already repeatedly explored military uniforms.

But Balmain helped make the decorated officer jacket one of the recognizable fashion status symbols of the late 2000s. 

And now that entire fashion conversation is happening again.

One of the clearest signs of the jacket's return came courtesy of Jenna Ortega. For Jonathan Anderson's debut Dior womenswear show in October 2025, Ortega wore a fitted military-inspired vest with a frayed denim miniskirt, pointed pumps and aviator sunglasses.

It was historical fashion stripped of the history lesson.

Instead of styling the military piece with equally elaborate clothing, Ortega gave it denim and bare legs. The result landed somewhere between Napoleonic uniform, 2000s Kate Moss and current celebrity street style.

Dior's runway direction made the timing even more significant. Military references have appeared in the house's new era under Anderson, while the broader Spring 2026 collections also saw versions at McQueen, Chloé, Ralph Lauren and Ann Demeulemeester.

Dior helped establish the revival on the runway. Celebrities have carried it onto the street.

Margot Robbie provided another major 2026 Napoleon jacket moment in May.

For the opening night of 1536 in London's West End, Robbie wore a black cropped McQueen jacket from the Spring/Summer 2026 collection. 

The Napoleonic military-inspired piece featured elaborate gold decoration and a standing collar. She paired it with black trousers and pointed shoes rather than leaning into literal period dressing.

In September, Edgar-Jones stepped out during the Sense and Sensibility press tour in an ivory military jacket from McQueen's Spring 2026 collection. She wore it with low-rise blue jeans and pointed white heels.

The timing is almost too perfect. An actress promoting Jane Austen in a jacket rooted in historical military dress, styled with low-rise denim that could have come directly from a 2000s paparazzi photo.

The list now stretches well beyond Ortega, Robbie and Edgar-Jones.

Vogue has documented Dua Lipa in a cropped red Ann Demeulemeester Spring 2026 jacket and notes that military jackets have also appeared on Sofia Richie Grainge, Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith. Marie Claire has additionally pointed to Bella Hadid and Cynthia Erivo as celebrities participating in the wider military-jacket revival.

Naomi Watts also fits into the broader return of structured, military-adjacent outerwear. In January 2025, she wore a navy Prada wool coat distinguished by prominent gold buttons, while in February 2026 she appeared during New York Fashion Week in a burgundy suede utility jacket with gold hardware. 

The revival lands at the intersection of two major fashion cycles. First is the continuing reassessment of 2000s style. Fashion has already cycled through low-rise jeans, ballet flats, boho bags and other Y2K signatures. The military jacket pushes that nostalgia into the later, rockier side of the decade.

Second is fashion's renewed interest in statement outerwear. After seasons dominated by deliberately understated basics, a jacket covered in braiding, metallic buttons and decorative trim feels noticeably different.

And unlike some returning 2000s trends, this one has an unusually rich archive.