Monday, February 18, 2013

Weekend Finds: Coats-a-palooza!

Good morning!

I'll tell you what-- it is COATS, COATS, AND COATS up in this piece. This post is LOUSY with coats! I thought I would do my house a favor and rid myself of some of the old coats that are either too big or too worn for me to keep, and you know what? The karmic boomerang of this weekend involved me buying two new, super dramatic, super crazy coats to fill the void that the six or so I let go had created in hanger-space. So I'm actually still ahead on my closet cleanout, haha! I wanted to share a couple photos in this Monday post, in which most of my coat dreams came true. Wanna see?

Bonus cameo by Matthew and his iPhone's shadow in most of these :)
Vintage coats are often one of the last things to go when people are cleaning out their closets. Along with wedding dresses and formals, outerwear is one of the biggest clothes expenditures a pre-Forever-21 person was bound to make in their lives. Because, "you'll need a good coat"! While the entire ready-to-wear wardrobe of your average civilian is eventually relegated, sooner rather than later, to younger siblings, charity sales, swap meets, Goodwill...wherever used clothes are sent...I find that the really, really good stuff is what even an assiduous spring cleaner hangs on to, because hang it all, that coat was expensive when it was new!

Behold! The sleeve!


Which is probably why, to my delight, I found this black Persian lamb coat in an upstairs closet in a farm house in Bethpage, TN this weekend, a good seventy years after whoever bought it in the first place took it home with them. One of the sales ladies said it was her grandmother's, and my jaw about scraped the floor when I got it out into the light and realized how GORGEOUS the texture and pile of the wool was. I have been looking for something like this for forever, and to find one in mint condition, with beautifully belled sleeves and all luxurious fur? Forget it. At the checkout counter, I had two other fifties' dresses, a Patsy-Cline like sequined sixties' top, a velvet jacket-and-skirt matched suit, one fifties' swimsuit (!!), a black skirt, two sixties' lace tops, and some gloves, all of which came to about $21 with their respective second day discounts.... I think the break down of what I paid for everything clocks this coat at about $4. FOUR. DOLLARS. Possibly less. That morning, I was officially the happiest human being in whatever county that was. SCORE!

The one thing that's strange about it are these two ribbons sewn on either side of the inside lapel of the coat...one is stitched down about six inches, and the other runs maybe twelve. I was trying to see if it was meant to help you wear the coat over-your-shoulders-without-arms-in-sleeves, like the street pictures from the stylish woman on Photo Friday last, but in doing so, danged if I didn't pull the ribbon loose from its vintage stitched moorings. I'll tack it back down when I get a chance. In the meantime, any ideas as to its original use?
 
The tag on the inside reads "Weisberg Coats and Suits". While I couldn't find any information on the maker, you can see a map of the area where the physical store was located at the time of coat's manufacture, and it's  a pretty little neighborhood, surrounded by MLS listings for Victorian houses, so I guess it might be a tony part of town? If you're up North or familiar with that area, please let me know!


I'm on a huge, Dietrich inspired dramatic coats, and boots, and all slim lines and nipped waists kind of kick right now, so just for fun, here's the outfit underneath. How do you like that 1980's-does'-1880's velvet jacket (Goodwill in Hendersonville, $5.99)? Me, I like it fine. While hats are verboten at work, nobody's said anything about headwraps or huge bows yet, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can keep rocking this look on days I don't have enough time or chutzpah to do my beehive.


With the deal I got on the last coat, I almost feel foolish for having bought this one at Goodwill the night before, for the princely sum of $19.99, but what's done is done. This one photographs more wrinkled than it looks in real life, and I'm guessing it's from the mid-to-late seventies', with faux fur, faux leather trimmings,  and a French manufacturer's label on the inside (including a warning NOT to dry clean this coat, but to have it cleaned "by the furrier method" in spite of its imitation mink). I put it on and immediately felt like Emma Peel, so I had to get it. While other seventies' faux fur coats have passed me by, something about the depth and color of the material on this one made me stop once, twice, try it on, drag it around the store, and eventually buy it. I'm a sucker! What can I say.


Walking out into the cold in either of these coats this weekend physically buoyed my spirits up to the point of actual clothes-elation. I might look like I'm dressed for the dinner theater stage or a costume piece, but by Godfrey, that's how I want to look!

How about you? Do you have a vintage coat or two that changes your character description just by draping it over your shoulders? What do you think of fur and its imitators as a vintage style option?  I always have a secret suspicion that I look like Grizzly Adams in too-much fur, but the Crawford acolyte in me demands high drama in vintage outerwear choices. Any extraordinary luck at the estate sales this weekend? Let a girl know!

That's all for today-- if you're off for President's Day, I hope you're enjoying it! I think I'm going to run around to the Goodwills, myself. I'll see you guys back here tomorrow. Til then!

28 comments:

  1. You found some absolutely amazing deals! I love all of these coats, especially the first. I am also a coat collector. I collected them when I lived in Florida when I had zero use for them! My favorites are a camel swing coat with a rhinestone broach at the shoulder, and a 1960s leopard coat passed down from my Mom.
    Adrienne
    What Lola Wants

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    1. Oooh, that leopard coat sounds like a dream! I think that's so funny about you collecting coats and living somewhere where you wouldn't need one a lot of the time-- my problem is I keep a whole closet full of them, and only end up using one or two on the regular. MUST. GET BETTER ABOUT THIS. haha.

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  2. Wow, the prices from that estate sale have me drooling!! (I especially wanna see that Patsy Cline-esque top!) Love how ultra-glamorous these coats are, and how chic you look in all black!

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    1. Thanks!! I was anxious when I got to the checkout because I was thinking, "I must have read something wrong on the signage, there's just no way these are this cheap at a professional sale", but they were! I have to get the zipper fixed on the PC one but it's a canary yellow shell top with sequins and little embellishments, and a bow you can tie at the collar. LOVE IT.

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  3. Well done! I can never find coats...not any that fit me anyway. How on earth do you find those great small ones??? All the women on this side of the state must have been bloody titans!

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    1. I know, I have had the same problem in my coat shopping life. 90% of the cute coats I find at Goodwill and estate sales were built for someone's very stylish, very short, very round grandmother. I don't know how I managed these. Somebody up there likes me!

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  4. You have a great collection of jackets and coats. I'm still looking for a coat that fits me properly.

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    1. Thanks! And it IS like looking for a needle in a haystack, sometimes, finding the coat with the right fit. I have the worst problem with the sleeves being too short if the size is right, but I've taken to wearing long gloves with them and acting like it's on purpose. Probably not fooling anyone, but the heart wants what it wants (which is vintage coats)!

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  5. Nice finds! You always find the best stuff and I'm totally jealous!

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    1. Thanks, lady! You should come out thrift store shopping with me sometime, there's gold in them thar hills... :)

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  6. Love, love, love the first coat! That is a beauty, for sure. And your waist is TINY. I would ask you your secret, but I'm pretty sure it involves a vegan diet, and I probably enjoy BBQ too much to get on board with it. Le sigh. Have fun at the Goodwills!

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    1. Thanks! I've been keeping about 95% vegan, 100% meat free, and it has done wonders in whittling down my waist into vintage fighting shape. I can't eat anything that's bad for me (that I love), haha! They make a Carolina style Vegan BBQ at Whole Foods in the deli section that is OUT. OF. CONTROL, just for the record! :)

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  7. Love that first coat and the price was just... perfect!
    I would like to have many and many coats but they are hard to store and take a lot of space...
    I usually buy a cot each winter.. here is my last purchase .http://lostin1950.blogspot.fr/2013/02/an-endless-winter.html

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    1. Thank you! I LO-O-OVE your coat, too, the trim is so pretty and the color is neat. And your "dalmatian" hat and your hair set, for that matter! :)

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  8. Fantastic coats! The universe was shining on your this weekend. Great finds!

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    1. Right? I was like, "THANK YOU, VINTAGE FATES, FOR SENDING ME AN ANGEL" lol

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  9. oh my god!!!!!!! Both coats are so cute and look like they were custom made for you!!! I love long coats and if I didn't sit down all the time I would own 30!!! However, they look like ass on me and get all rumpled...which is probably for the best because I would be flat broke and I wouldn't be able to close my closet. I really love these!!

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    1. Thanks, Kimmie! I picked it up and was like, ah, you don't need another coat, but then I carried it out into the light and it was like trumpets sang.

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  10. Love your outfit and your coats and your big ol' bow on your head. Take me shopping with you!!!

    Anyway, hope you're enjoying your Presidents Day Goodwilling.

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    1. Thank ya, ma'am! You have an open invitation any time you're in Tennessee, man. We'll paint the town and the Goodwills red! :)

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  11. You are perfect for those clothes! To think they have been waiting all these years just for you! It sort of gives you goose bumps if you really think about it! So happy you found each other!!!!!

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    1. You are so nice! I am glad these coats and I finally found each other, too!

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  12. FAB finds!!! They look great!! Please, please, please share your other finds from the farm house.

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    1. Oh, for sure! When I get them back from the cleaner's, I'll have to do a special edition. :)

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  13. The sleeves! Oh god, bell sleeves. Love.

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    1. The first thing I noticed was the wool, and the second thing....oh, those sleeves. I thought it was from the sixties' at first glance but I think the bell shape pegs 'em as earlier, late forties'/early fifties'!!

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  14. I absolutely love your coats!!!! You have a good eye & I don't think there is such a think as too much fur. You can definitely pull it off & btw so could The Griz. I do have a question for you-I am curious. What you your friend think of your awesome vintage style? Do others like people you don't know ask you about it? You really can pull it off-I love it! And I especially love the Persian lamb-I have been looking for one myself-you scored!

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  15. I think I have more coats than underwear! :P I have some really fab ones (coats, I mean)- a Persian lamb like yours but with a big mink collar, a black velvet 30s coat with a giant white fox collar, a white wool swing coat with white mink collar...I always say I'm buying them to sell in my etsy store, but realistically, they're never leaving my possession!

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