Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Coat(s) of Many Colors (Vintage Sixties' Coat Addiction)

Good morning!

Isn't it GORGEOUS outside, kids? My foot went right through one of the toes of my tights this morning, and as I tossed the traitorous pair of leggings, I thought-- why not go barelegged today? It's gonna be 70 something by noon! I put on a pair of black flats and one of my brightest print Hawaiian dresses to greet the day. I know we're going back in to the colder double digits next week, but by golly, why not enjoy this sunshine while we can.

To celebrate a day no-coats-would-be-worn, I thought I might show you a few of the winter wear selections I've been wearing lately. Usually, I just wear my one, good, black wool dress coat to living death, but this year, I've been trying really hard to wear some of the excessive number of colored wool coats stashed in my office's coat closet. Also, I got rid of maybe five coats, which was like cutting my own heart out of my body, but I have to admit, it's nice to be able to reach into the closet and effortlessly pull out a piece of clothing! Before, the struggle  to free a coat or find the one you wanted was almost more effort than braving the arctic climes!


As long as I have been buying old clothes, and this is stretching back to about eighth grade for me, I have been trying on coats with fur collars. Big ones, short ones, little bitty ones-- print ones, solid ones-- coats with collars of ermine, fox, chinchilla, mink, and faux everything...when I see one of these so-and-so's at the Goodwill, I can't help but try it on. And each time, is it an act of optimism! From the average selection of these coats, you would think most women who owned outerwear like this in the fifties' and sixties' resembled one of those pepper pot women from a New Yorker cartoon, instead of the Suzy Parker young secretary type I have in mind when I hope it will fit. Being tall, it's imperative NOT to wear something tent-like and too short or I look completely crazy-- remember I told you most forties' full length fur coats fall above my knee and make me look like Grizzly Adams? Ditto on fur collar coats. Which is why I was OVER THE MOON to find this lipstick red coat with brown fur collar at the Rivergate Goodwill a year ago, which fit like a glove. Every time I wear it, it feels like I'm stepping out of some midcentury, Jerry Wald produced movie (see: The Best of Everything; rinse, repeat).



Remember when I bought this coat last year at that basement estate sale in Madison? The button it was missing, it is still missing-- but it occurred to me to remove two of the six buttons, and suddenly nothing looks amiss! I love how BRIGHT blue this coat is. I struggle a lot with the temptation to just wear all black, all the time. Or black and one-color-or-pattern. It's my cardinal rule! One, you don't have to worry if things coordinate, they just do; two, the black-and-monochromatic obsession is less of a gothic impluse except in the root Germanic sense of the word. I always, de profundis, want to look like Marlene Dietrich in one of her von Sternberg collaborations, and that means black ostrich feathers on black velvet with a black crepe cape! And maybe a sequined gold mantle, just for fun. You will never see me in green tights with a yellow skirt and a red blouse-- not because I don't love people who can use color in their wardrobe (my sister and my friend Ruthie, both artists and snazzy dressers with a strong hold on "how to use color", come to mind), but because of how uncomfortable I feel without a "grounding" overtone of black in an outfit. Note I am still wearing my black hair tie and my boots in this ensemble, but the blue coat is a big step outside the crayon box for me!


The red coat didn't have a maker's tag (not even a tiny union one...I think it may have been homemade by a very capable seamstress), but this one has "Youthcraft" on a silk label at the nape of the neck.


This green coat I found in Gallatin with Eartha weekend before last-- I was wearing the red coat and tried to hang it on a leaf blower in a garage so I could try it on, but Eartha snatched my already owned coat up from its perch. "I'm gonna keep you classy if it kills me!" she said, and I second guessed my in-the-field tactic of dumping my coat wherever. There were two in the garage of this house, both marked I think $8, but the white one, in a very similar style, had moth's holes. The green one was intact, though heavily rumpled; after a pressing at the cleaner's, it looks good as new! See the crazy, extreme mink collar:


And the moss green color, which reminds me of Tippi Hedren's suit  in The Birds. I can't decide if I like the collar better open or closed-- even though my shoulders aren't very wide, the capelet effect of the collar almost makes it look like it's too small for me when done up:


And ignore the messy flyaways, it had been a hard day's night when we took these pictures...what do you think? Better open or closed?


The only label on this one is this "Hockanum Fabric" by Stevens Fabric label...how cute is it?!


Last but not least, this white coat technically counts as a coat-of-color, as it is not black, in my book. This was from an estate sale in Forest Acres in April of 2012! I wore it once to the flea market that year and probably not since, so I've been trying to incorporate it into the outerwear rotation more (especially now that it's not hidden at the back of the closet behind some random army surplus stuff...old habits die hard). Because I am apparently obsessed with style inspiration from Hitchcock pictures, I associate white coats with Kim Novak in this one, from the movie Vertigo. With a black sweater underneath, it's easy to bridge the gap between where-the-sleeves-end and where-my-wrists-actually-are (this is decidedly not a jewelry-showing-off-length sleeve, it's just too short on my monkey arms!). On the other coats, which have similar "What do you do about the bare expanse of skin in these winter months!", I've actually stock piled four or five pair of cloth, elbow length gloves (LIKE what Novak is wearing in the photo! I KNEW I wasn't crazy), to keep my arms warm in these elbow-ending sleeves!


This is a Forstmann wool called "Ermina" (which is what I should name one of my children), distributed by "Louis Goldstein, New York". The maker's label is from Grace's, which was an upscale women's shop in Nashville that ran at least until 2008. I thought it was still around! I am disturbed to find its website defunct and no mention of it on Google maps outside of Grace's Plaza, a shopping complex down the road and owned by the same family...you can see the archived version of their old website, with history on the brand, here. Well, at least I snapped this one up while I could, I guess!



Anyway! What do you think of my coats of many colors? Do you have any outerwear that is a particular favorite, or a coat that makes you feel like a movie star every time you wear it? Have any style tips you'd like to share about vintage winter clothes? Let's talk!

That's all for today, but I'll see you back here tomorrow (if I live through this work day, eugh, nerves are being worked!!). ENJOY THE SUNSHINE! Til then.

16 comments:

  1. love your colored coat collection!
    i never bought a "new new" coat in my life. always had vintage/second hand coats. wool, fur, cotton for summer. yes - around here you need a coat in summer sometimes :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It feels like coats and formal dresses are one of the LAST THINGS people get rid of-- I've had such luck with those two things at estate sales and Goodwill it's crazy. I think it's because people spend a lot of money on a quality one to last a long time...and then they can't just give it away as easily as day to day wear or something that was on sale. I really think it's the way to go, second hand! :)

      Delete
  2. Not to worry…I'm pretty sure you couldn't be anything but classy! :) Especially with such a coat collection - oh my jeez….the blue one! I had thought that the red one was my favorite but wow, the blue one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, lady! The woman at the basement sale where that was said it was her grandmother's...the blue is so blue it's almost electric! I got it outside and went "THIS IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT COAT" in the light of day!

      Delete
  3. Wow, those are all gorgeous!! My fave is the green- how stunning! I like the collar open. I am a bit of a coat hoarder myself. My current favorite is a bright pink wool that I paid too much for BUT it makes people on the street smile.

    Also, I thought of you this weekend when I was at the thrift store. The cashier tried (yet again) to ring up my own wallet as part of my purchase. HA!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bright pink wool! I bet that is a stunner, lady! :)

      And HAHA, isn't that funny about your wallet! And I know you can sympathize with that weird, slightly embarrassing dance of "Uh, no, that's mine. As in I brought it in here."

      Delete
  4. I've seen photos of the red & green coat before, but not the blue! It really brings out some of the blue tones in your eyes. The white is striking too; I wish I could pull off double breasted coats! Was Grace's in Green Hills? Sounds like a store I loitered in & bought a scarf from over 10 years ago. I cannot decide if I like the collar open or closed on the green coat, I like both, but I think the closed collar is fancier looking- maybe to be worn that way in the evening? Thanks for the color compliment- I just throw on some bright colors that make me feel cheery!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love that you read this one! I was thinking when I was writing it "But who DOES do color well? So I can use them as an example?" and you and Sus are freakin' masters of the art. Give me any color and the only thing I can match it with is black, that's how pitiful it is!

      Grace's IS that store, it moved there in the 70's from downtown, where it was a ladies' dress shop from 1925 on. Before Grace ran her own place, she was manager of a ladies' shirtwaist type store for ten years before that, check it out, you'll love this (there's a picture on down if you scroll to it):

      http://books.google.com/books?id=y7LU-manWTsC&lpg=PA121&dq=grace%20trammell%20nashville&pg=PA121#v=onepage&q=grace%20trammell%20nashville&f=false

      Delete
  5. love your coats. They would be priced around $25+ at my GW and the lowest I see them at the ts is $9.99 I bought one off Ebay for $25 but it's a little tight in the shoulders. I found another at the t.s. which I kind of love but listed it on Ebay. Wish I could find some like yours in my size. Right now my winter jacket is a red Columbia coat I paid .25 for because it had a ripped seam in the arm pit. I just sewed it up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I love bargains like that where you're like "IS THAT ALL THAT IS WRONG WITH THIS? PS, are you guys CRAZY for not keeping it?" I bet your next winter coat is just around the corner! They pop up in the dead of summer....I think every single one of these I bought in heatwave, making trying them on like a crucible for how strong my vintage hoarding willpower was in 80 degree heat! :)

      Delete
  6. Oooh, I love all these coats, but I think the blue one is best on you because of your blue eyes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sarah! They pop SUPER blue with that coat, don't they? I'm going to have to wear it more often!

      Delete
  7. gorgeous! i love all your coats. my one real coat is a wool hooded pea coat my grandmother bought me about 5 years ago now. it is too big after this past year but i'm loathe to give it up! i need to keep a lookout for a pretty color one to make the giving up a little easier!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your coat collection is so beautiful I want to cry, seriously phenomenal. My coats are terrible and lack luster and I am constantly combing places for good ones but have yet to have ANY luck. The Rivergate good will is one of my favorite places to frequent as well, you never know what you'll find!

    Amanda
    http://junebugsandgeorgiapeaches.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  9. A day when no coats or jackets were needed...I'm jealous! You have a great collection. The blue one is my favorite. You were meant for classy coats, they look lovely on you!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I also bought a coat similar to yours (maroon), but it was labeled 50s coat. Scroll down to see it: https://www.etsy.com/listing/171941987/vintage-50s-fur-collar-wool-coat-size-sm

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...