“We were in a rehearsal hall,” Cher recalls by phone. Stark would soon become one of the most influential celebrity clothiers of his time, but in 1988, in that studio with Cher, only he knew it. Suddenly, a Chrome Hearts jacket would not only save your ass if you crashed your Harley but it might also get you a table at Spago. Thanks to a friend who worked in fashion production, the jackets were beautifully made, but the real breakthrough came when Stark and a jeweler added custom silver hardware-sterling studs, zipper pulls, and biker cross embellishments. Through his job working with tanneries, he had access to superthick hides normally used in upholstery, so he’d been tooling around in his Hollywood garage for a few years, making sturdy jackets he and his buddies would wear on their bikes. There were plenty of brands selling heavy-metal motorcycle jackets and rocker jewelry in those days, but Stark, a headstrong and clever leather wholesaler from Utica, New York, had a more luxurious vision for the genre.

Richard Stark had recently started a brand called Chrome Hearts, which made jewelry, clothes, and accessories for bikers and rock stars, and he was doing the old-school version of influencer marketing: riding his Harley around town and seeing if famous people would buy his gear. One afternoon in 1988, Cher was rehearsing in a Los Angeles recording studio when a guy with wild, curly hair and a stern face dropped by.

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