[59] A buff jerkin is a man's sleeveless leather jacket, usually short and tight.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was worn over the doublet.
(a doublet is another jacket, ok?)
The likeness of Sir Martin Frobisher (1535-1594), wearing a Buff Jerkin, as many seamen did at his time, and for a couple of centuries on.
Clearly he thought he looked smashing. He was surely dressed fashionably, which goes to show you how much you should trust fashion.
Artist: Cornelis Ketel, 1577
