First: Please stick to the topic. Please keep it civil. TIA!

This stems from a discussion started on FacelessBook, but I wanted to have a discussion that is more moderated and civil over here.

First, to give some context: I am newbie rider, having bought my first anything with less than four wheels in January. (But I have almost 3k miles on it since then!) Also, I am a bit of an OCD analyst type of person, so am always looking at the "why" and the "best" and trying to learn root reasons and tend to question the status quo.

So having said that... this discussion is not to troll, nor to start an impassioned flame war, but to learn.

Every biker shop I go into, I see a lot of vests (usually leather), and paraphernalia for vests. And of course, all the movies, tv shows, etc. the biker outfit includes a vest. (Except racing or offroading.)

I also know that most biker clubs, this seems to be the standard "uniform" with patches awarded, insignias on the back, and so on, but I just don't know why or how this came about. Even if I consider that motorcycle safety is relatively "new" in the grand scheme of things (like car seatbelts), I see that the "old timers" would usually wear at least leather gloves and often some sort of helmet, so safety and comfort were a consideration.

But how did the leather vest become so normalized? And why are they still so common and seemingly still preferred? It seems they would only protect the core in a tumble or slide, and that's not what we usually slide on. Before windshields and fairings were common, perhaps it kept the bug splatter stings on your chest tolerable? Or protected your shirt from same?

I'm curious what you know and what you think.

Again: Please stick to the topic. Please keep it civil. TIA!