Embroidered Tiger Bomber Jacket 'Moko'

A tiger and two dragons in gold and orange thread, apricot or grey sleeves

Gold is the thread that holds this sukajan together. Two dragons in gold coil over the shoulders and down the chest, one each side of the zip, with gold leaves and peonies round them running onto the sleeves. On the back, a tiger in orange and black prowls through gold peonies and leaves so dense that the panel reads as a gold cloth with a tiger in it. The sleeves are apricot in the photograph, a pale warm gold, with ribbing to match; the other version has them in grey.

It is the most embroidered jacket in the range by thread count, and the one where the ground almost disappears, which on a sukajan is a compliment.

The name, Moko, is the fierce tiger, the beast on the back, drawn mid-step with its teeth showing.

Every motif is embroidered, not printed, in dense satin stitch that stands off the cloth and catches the light differently as you move; that is the whole point of a sukajan, and it is the reason the jacket weighs what it does. The body is a satin blend with a soft sheen and a light quilted lining, and the collar, cuffs and hem are a ribbed knit, which is the construction the sukajan has had since the first ones were sewn for American sailors in Yokosuka in the late forties. It zips at the front and has a slash pocket at each hip. It washes cold, inside out, on a gentle cycle, and dries flat.

Wear it over a white tee and white trousers, as in the photograph, or over black to make the gold the only light. It goes with cream, with camel, and with nothing else that has a pattern.

From across a street it is a black bomber with pale sleeves and gold all over the back. From close the tiger has every stripe, the peonies every petal in gold thread, and the dragons on the chest every scale. It is the sukajan that weighs the most and looks the richest, and the two are connected.

The sleeves are set in raglan, and the gold leaves on the chest run onto them without a break, so the whole upper body reads as one embroidered surface when the zip is closed. The apricot satin is a pale warm gold, the grey a soft pewter, and the ribbing changes to match.

Sizes run from M to XXXL. It is cut to Asian sizing and runs small, so take one size up from your usual. Between two sizes, take the larger.