Drive Jacket

Name: High Society Drive Jacket
Brand: High Society
Availability: Discontinued

The Driver in Drive, 2011 — as worn by Ryan Gosling

The elevator sequence in Drive (2011) compresses the film’s romantic restraint and sudden brutality into a confined, nearly silent encounter.

The scene — The Driver

The elevator sequence in Drive (2011) compresses the film’s romantic restraint and sudden brutality into a confined, nearly silent encounter. The Driver enters the apartment-building elevator with Irene and an armed man; the white satin jacket is present as the three share the tight space, its embroidered scorpion turned away from view. The moment begins in stillness, with the Driver alert to the danger and Irene unaware of what he has understood.

Before the attack, the Driver turns to Irene and kisses her. The gesture briefly suspends the threat around them, but it also reads as a farewell: he knows the violence he is about to unleash will change how she sees him. He then attacks the armed man, while Irene retreats from the unfolding assault. The jacket’s calm, immaculate surface moves with him through a scene in which tenderness gives way to extreme force, exposing the divided impulse at the center of his character—his desire to protect Irene and his capacity for violence.

As the action ends, the film isolates the Driver and the jacket rather than offering Irene’s retreat as a conventional resolution. The elevator’s close quarters make the embroidered back a striking visual anchor; the scorpion appears as the Driver turns away, its meaning sharpened by the violence just committed. In the final framing, the garment does not merely identify him: it carries the scene’s abrupt transformation from intimate encounter to threat, while Irene’s response marks the distance opening between them.

The object

High Society’s “Drive Jacket” was created by Los Angeles tailor Richard Lim with costume designer Erin Benach for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive (2011). High Society’s archive identifies the atelier as the maker and says it worked from Benach’s original renderings and patterns. The jacket was developed with Ryan Gosling, whose interest in 1950s Korean souvenir jackets informed the initial direction; Benach described refining their looser shape into a cleaner, more streamlined silhouette for the Driver.

The screen garment is a white satin bomber with a quilted weave and a large gold scorpion embroidered across the back. Benach specified 100-percent-wool ribbing at the cuffs and waist, rather than stretchy nylon, and a collar that could be turned up. She described working through 15 or 20 iterations and testing satins with different sheens so the bright surface would photograph as intended. High Society’s account also notes wool cuffs and collar and says 27 matching jackets were made for the production to accommodate different states of wear.

In the elevator sequence, the jacket’s gold embroidery is visible as the Driver turns away from Irene after attacking the armed man. The version used in this moment retains its white satin surface and embroidered scorpion; it is a production-made costume, not an off-the-rack retail model. The film’s costume archive records a custom-made satin “Scorpion” jacket designed by Benach, while High Society identifies its own work with the garment.

High Society was founded by Richard Lim in Los Angeles in 1968 as a bespoke tailoring atelier. Benach has said the scorpion design references Kenneth Anger’s 1963 film Scorpio Rising, a documented influence on the jacket’s graphic motif.

The full Drive file →

Production Notes

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