Thriller jacket

The jacket was designed by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. She had also designed Indiana Jones's jacket in Raiders of the Lost Ark, among other things.[7][8][9] The red jacket was noted for its V shaped black stripes, the unusual style of the front buttons, and the angular, rigid shoulders protruding out over the tops of the arms.[10][11] Landis stated that she specifically designed the jacket to help Jackson appear more "virile".[12][13]

Christine Gledhill in her book Stardom: Industry of Desire (1991) discusses Jackson's overall style in Thriller as follows: "In 'Thriller', Michael's outfit and its stylistic features – the wet-look hairstyle, the ankle-cut jeans and the letter 'M' emblazoned on his jacket – reinforce this meta-textual superimposition of role. If Michael, as the male protagonist, is both boyfriend and star, his female counterpart in the equation of 'romance' is both the girlfriend and at this meta-textual level, the fans."[14]

Fashion designer Zaldy was responsible for a redesigned version of the jacket for the cancelled This Is It concerts. It had an imitation of blood on its shoulders, and on the inside a stamp resembling the feline beast Jackson turns into in the video.[15]

The jacket became the "hottest outerwear fad of the mid-1980s" and was widely emulated. It is sometimes emulated by celebrities today such as Chris Brown and Kanye West.[1][16] It also became one of the most sought after by many people and the epitome of the 1980s teen cool.[17][18] The jacket he wore in the Thriller video, along with a copy of the black and white leather jacket he wore in one of the Pepsi commercials and in the dance rehearsal portions behinds the scenes of The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, are among his best-selling jackets.[19] Expensive counterfeits were mass-produced and often sold for over $500 to people thinking they were getting the real thing.[20] Because of this mass counterfeiting and the profits it earned, in 1984 Jackson filed a lawsuit in New York City to prevent unauthorized copies of the jacket and his other merchandise.[2]

In the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, choreographer Wade Robson, who claims Jackson sexually abused him, burns Jackson memorabilia including a Thriller jacket. Robson and director Dan Reed said that the jacket was genuine.[21][22][23] According to action house Julien's Auctions, in 2011 Robson sold a jacket from "Thriller" for $49,920.[24][25]