15 April 2010

Yellow

Mrs. G. and I conveniently abandoned our camera at a friends house on Sunday night. Late hours and too much wine had nothing to do with it. As a result, tonight's post features photos taken two weeks ago on a chilly and rainy day spent book hunting with the children.



You know that drizzly weather, the kind when it never actually rains but you can't help but wind up soaking wet after a while? I dig a casual outfit on those days, and those old 1990s style lightweight anorak pullover jackets.

This thing here is the mutant hybrid of a classic yellow rain slicker and a pullover hoodie. Garish as that yellow may be, I doubt I'd be be interested in it in any other color.

I say nineties vintage because of this L.L.Bean label. When I was in high school, I remember those L.L. Bean back packs were quite the rage...embroidered with initials, and then with badly drawn metal band logos written on them in Sharpie. Those bags had this label.


As a side note, dig that size 'Small' tag. More evidence that the listed size and the actual size don't necessarily correspond. You may remember the last post featured both a pair of pants in size 34 and an XL sweater. And now this small anorak. But, hey they all fit and so they're all mine. If you're new to thrift shopping, I suggest you try things on first whenever possible. After a while, you'll begin to develop an eye and an instinct for what fits.


As if that yellow weren't enough, why not some purple and yellow in the mini plaid shirt to go with it? Sort of like the Joker goes fishing off the coast of Maine with his frat buddies. Say what you will, but this jacket thingy kills for $3.99



And just in case you missed the point, how about some yellow down below to drive the point home...with a sledgehammer.

As i said before, this outfit served me well on a wet day of dragging the children on a book run. Now, it's well known that I am loath to divulge the locations of my sartorial honey pots, but in the case of books the same rules do not apply.

If you live in the Boston area and you don't know about Used Book Superstore, you have no clue what you're missing. Paperbacks $1.99, hardcovers$2.99, plus kids books and in some locations records. These places are clean and well organized, just like a new book store, only everything is used. Plus, if you sign up for the newsletter you get all sorts of outrageous coupons in your email, as though the place weren't dirt cheap to begin with.


I may spend an indecent amount of time searching for and acquiring somebody else's clothes, but I could stay in these places until I've inspected every title, and left with 30% of them. Dangerous, in a good way.


So why tell you about this and not the other places? Because you don't need any more old clothes, and frankly neither do I. But there's no such thing as too many books, and where that's concerned I'm only too happy to share. Check these guys out next chance you get.


Now if only there next coupon was a 50% discount for chumps in bright yellow jackets....



8 comments:

CLG said...

Those socks!...perfect!

Thornproof said...

Nice jacket!

I wish that I could find a bookstore like that around the DC-area. When I lived in England, we had a £2 bookstore down the road from our flat that was great (and I picked up quite a few deals there).

Cheers!

Laguna Beach Fogey said...

Wonderful outfit. It works, in unexpected ways.

Unknown said...

G - hats off to you. Inspiring combo which will have me on the hunt for a yellow rain jacket. I really should stop reading you as it leads me astray - forcing me to spend hours trying to track down stuff that you have put together so artfully. Btw, I live in Brookline and we really should get together for a beer or three. Originally from London (Blighty and not Ontario) and so have some stories growing up in the seventies which may be of interest.

DAM said...

Totally dig it - perfect rainy day rig. Have my zip up LL Bean version (with the same tag, too boot) with me today.

David V said...

Great look.
I wouldn't call it garish. It is Highly Visible!

Just what you want on a gray and drizzly day.

The question is: Why do I always opt for navy?

Rashon Carraway said...

Hey! I have those same socks. I boought them from J. Crew a year or two ago.

Great blog.


Mr. Goodwill Hunting
http://g-w-hunting.blogspot.com

FIXED BAYONET METAL SOLDIERS said...

yellow sucks man