LIFE JACKET FASHION

Thom Browne's life vest currently on sale in Japan

Looking back at the yellow vest featured in New York designer Thom Browne's spring/summer collection got us thinking about real-life life jackets, the latest advances in ultra-extreme environment models in particular.

When you fly over water, the airline must, by law, supply you with a life jacket on the off-chance the pilot manages to land safely amid the waves. So tucked under your seat you'll usually find something like the Air Cruiser AC-1000, AC-2000 or, if you're lucky, the AC-2f. Another company called Survival Products makes similar models, like the FV-35F and XF-35. They have a logo that suggests a Whitesnake cover band more than life saving:

In any case, all life jackets are pretty similar, and Survival's XF-35 is a good example. Rated for both kids and grown-ups, it comes in a choice of two colorways: Passenger Yellow or Crew Molten Orange. Weighing in at 1.13 lbs, its twin independent cells inflate to 16 liters to give a buoyancy of 150 Newtons minimum, ergo very. The dual CO2 gas charges should go off on contact with water, but if they don't there's a manual inflator, plus a water-activated Survivor Locator Light as standard. Material-wise, they've gone for flame retardant urethane coated nylon finished with RF heat sealed seams--very du jour. Airlines can customize the jackets if they want, though having your logo clearly visible amid the wreckage doesn't seem like the smartest PR move in our minds. More popular options include the Sea Dye Marker Packet and whistle.

Higher fliers like that guy up there need much more serious protection, like Mustang Survival's MSV971 Aircraft Life Preserver Survival Vest. "Designed specifically for pilots and aircrew to be worn over flight suits," explains the literature, "the MSV971 is an inflatable flotation cell integrated into a survival vest. Providing a full 37 lbs. of buoyancy, the inflatable cell is comprised of two independent chambers, separated by a fully integrated floating baffle system." For something even more hardcore, the MD4035FR Compact Damage Tolerant Life Preserver (below) means you can strap yourself up with guns, get shot and still float. Or, as the company puts it: "the MD4035FR provides full function even after a direct hit from a firearm or ballistic fragmentation. This extreme level of buoyancy compensates for nearly all configurations of personal equipment and small arms carried on missions."

The most specialized life jackets, however, are those used by submariners to escape back to the surface. Known officially as Submarine Escape Immersion Equipment, these fashion forward all-body suits are as popular with Belgian techno fans as they are with the world's navies, which is probably why they look like something Walter Van Beirendonck would design. The US submarine fleet is now switching to the British-made RFD Beaufort Mk-10 – considered a must-have for today's shallow water submarine missions.

As leading defense website Global Security notes, "the SEIE MK-10 suit allows survivors to escape a disabled submarine at depths down to 600 feet. The assembly is comprised of a submarine escape and immersion suit, an inner thermal liner, and a gas inflated single seat life raft, all contained in an outer protective stowage compartment. The suit not only keeps the escapee dry and protected from cold shock during escape, but also acts as a thermally efficient immersion suit on reaching the surface. Full protection is therefore provided while deploying and boarding the life raft. The suit provides sufficient lifting force to take the escapee from the submarine to the surface at a safe speed of approximately two to three meters per second."

CHRIS HATHERILL is co-director of super/collider