1955 saw James Dean immortalized as the moody, misunderstood rebel in "Rebel without a Cause", a character who many would try to emulate over the years. And though fashion would have been the furthest thing from "Jim Stark’s" (Dean) mind when he donned a t-shirt and red jacket for a night of trouble, the two items became essential fashion. (Co-star Natalie Wood looked pretty great too!) Filming in color, director Nicholas Ray and costumer Moss Mabry decided that a red jacket, not brown, would help the character stand out. Some sources credit Dean with the idea. Regardless of who thought it up, though, the red jacket became, as Variety editor Robert Hofler has described it, the symbol of “a generation’s despair.”
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