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The Halloween season is a thrift shop's annual cash cow, in much the same way that Christmas functions for any new retail store. Many thrift shops will stockpile certain items in anticipation of Halloween in order to build a dedicated section at the front of the store. These racks will be packed full of things like surgeon scrubs and military uniforms, as well as hopelessly awful polyester clothing and pre-made costumes. But they are always worth a look for anyone who is a fan of traditional East Coast style menswear. For example, a Halloween rack can be a great source of tartan trousers and brightly colored corduroys, as well as embroidered "critter pants" and even tweed caps.
The jacket pictured above was recently discovered on a Halloween rack. Made in England of real bullet proof tweed in a classic British gun club check with a rust and red overcheck, it has a 3/2 darted front, single button cuffs, horn buttons, and hacking pockets. Apparently, 99.9% percent of the world looks at this and sees a funny plaid jacket. But you and I know better, don't we? It's all about context.
Happy Halloween
My wife and I visited my daughter at UVM this weekend. My daughter loves to "thrift" at the large local Goodwill in Burlington. Clearly half of the patrons on Saturday afternoon were UVM kids trolling for Halloween items.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah! Love the jacket. I found a very similar Donegal tweed right about this time two years ago. Wore it today actually.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Heinz-Ulrich von B.
Clothes like that jacket that you found are timeless and will never go out of style. Ralph Lauren, Gant, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. all understand this. This is the reason so much of their "design time" is spent trolling the "archives" to re-make what they know is timeless.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it is humorous and strange at the same time how people view clothing as "costume" while others view the same clothing as nothing out of the ordinary. But to each his or her own! Finding a jacket like that would be like striking gold for me because I know that a jacket like that in today's time would usually require being bespoke or bought of the shelf at a very expensive price. I've seen jackets like that run beyond $900+.
Great find. May I ask, who is the maker?
I've seen that jacket before...
ReplyDeletehttp://putthison.com/post/57709016821/the-importance-of-a-good-fit-following-petes-post
(actually one just like it).
Here, in Edinburgh(where I study), there is a very big second-hand "emporium", not really a thift shop, but they have special halowe'en offers. And lo and behold: on the hallowe'en rack there were three or four pairs of evening tails for sale. (the price was quite high, 60+ GBPjust for the jacket)
ReplyDeleteAnd the sad thing was seeing high school kids rummaging through with no feeling whatsoever. I hope nothing got torn...
Bullet proof? Oh, no! What you want is "thorn proof." But it won't look like that. It will be plain (and not necessarily thorn proof either). Nice jacket, though. Sometimes nice jackets can be found in places that sell riding clothes.
ReplyDeleteAll clothes are indeed costumes, though only in the sense that they are what you wear to perform a role, if you follow me. But it is also true that nice clothes don't go out of style. It's only the occasions to wear them that go out of style. Unfortunately, it's also true that they will shrink for some reason.
One thing that has changed over the decades is that most clothing is much lighter than it used to be. Clothes are described as "year round," which generally translates as summer weight, whether or not that's what they mean. While comfortable indoors and generally comfortable in warm weather outdoors, they really aren't "year round" at all and moreover, they wear out quicker because they're thinner. And suits don't come with two pairs of pants anymore either.