The Runners-Up

Okay. First off, I love y'all, thanks for your input, but... NOT! HELPING!!! My two jacket candidates are running just about neck & neck, especially given how many of you are just telling me to keep them both! Enablers!!

Since I lot of people seem to be liking those two, I thought I'd show you some of the runners-up that I found while shopping for them. (The ones I ordered can't be had -- I got the last one of each of them.) So check these out -- clicking on the photo should link you to the product.

This is just what Bill Cunningham was talking about in the NYT photo essay that got me started on the whole idea, but I think it's a bit too shiny for my taste. (Also, if it's cold enough for a jacket, shouldn't you be wearing pants that don't have holes in them?) At this point, too, I was still resisting black.

Well, this is certainly not black. But maybe still a wee bit too shiny. (Also -- shorts??? Really?? Who is styling these photo shoots???)

This is quite nice & classic. Maybe a bit too classic.

This I absolutely adored -- it was on the short list. Click on the link and look at the back , it's absolutely wonderful. Problem is, I need an all-purpose jacket. No matter how bad the color reproduction is on Yoox's photos, this is still not an all-purpose color. It's a color I love, goodness knows, but believe it or not, I already have a coat in this color.



Hot pink velveteen vintage coat. I adore this silly thing, but how many pieces of fuchsia outerwear does a gal -- even a slightly off-kilter one -- need? So I reluctantly crossed the pink jacket above off the list, but I wish one of you would buy it. It was a great price, and so very, very adorable.

I like this, but in the end found it a little too sporty. I need something I can dress up a bit.

This was also a VERY close runner-up. Wonderfully cuddly-looking but still modern and cool. I still wish I could have this jacket, and it was also a great price.

I really like the waist on this one -- if you're going to wear a puffer, the tailoring (if that's the right word) is important. I do, however, have a prejudice against hoods. I find hoods childish-looking. Also, I wear hats -- I don't need a hood.

Oh, this was another one I lovelovetyloveloveloved. REALLY loved. But the ones they have left are too big for me, so I had to cross that one off. That hurt, because I love this a bunch. It's two pieces -- a vest and then a little bolero that goes over it. And it's Aquascutum, so it's super well-made. AND it's a fantastic price. Someone PLEASE buy this jacket!!!

This is very similar to the black one I wound up with. Love that big ol' collar.

Here's another one I didn't go with because I ultimately wanted something less shiny. But. That is a wonderful jacket. This is another one you should click on so you can see the back -- what a great-looking coat. I might should have risked it, given that it's Yoox, and as we've seen their photos cannot be relied upon. J'adore that dramatic collar, don't you?

The neatness and coolness of this appeal to me, but it was just a wee bit too motocross-y. Not that motocross-y is a bad thing, I really like this, but for an all-purpose jacket I thought it might have been a little too specific. It's super-cool, though, ain't it? Borders on downright badass.

Great shape, wrong color (for me). Had this come in another color, I would have snapped it up. If you can wear gray & silver, I really rec this. Super jacket. Love that collar -- it would keep the neck nice & warm.

This, on the other hand, was exactly the right color, but too expensive. Gorgeous coat, though, huh? Oh, it looks so sooooooooft...

Here's another one I really loved the shape of, and I thought it was wonderfully interesting, but eventually I decided against the navy. I know navy is a neutral, but I've never liked the combo of navy & black, and as much as I struggle against it, the reality is that a lot of my wardrobe is black.

Another one that lost because of the hood. Great shape though.

And had this red one been in my size, it would likely have been ordered. I also considered the possibility that the misspelling of "amethyst" was the Shoeniverse telling me to order it, but again -- much as I like purple I think it wouldn't be as useful. I've added a lot of purple to my wardrobe the last couple of years, but it's still not exactly a neutral for me in the way that black or even red would be.

So there you go. If you like my taste in outerwear, here are some pre-shopped options for ya. I do believe that all of these are on sale, and most of them are really, really good prices, so if you could use an extra jacket to get you through the rest of the winter, check out some of these.

Stay warm!

So Much for My Cunning Plan

Well, crap.

As I mentioned a while ago, I'm looking for a good new jacket -- something to keep me nice & toasty when the temperatures drop, but that looks good enough to wear out for dinner, and is hip-length or shorter. I had originally felt that I didn't want any sort of a puffer jacket, I really wanted a cloth coat, but then I saw this great feature from Bill Cunningham at the New York Times and I got to thinking that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. I have noticed that filled jackets (both poly- and down-) have gotten a lot sleeker and chic-er over the last few years. And after all, if one of the things I like least about cold weather is having to be weighed down by a big, heavy coat, then a nice light puffer might be just the ticket.

So I opened up my brain again and went looking for a filled jacket I'd like. I hit the jackpot on .



Sharp. Fitted, sleek, interesting. It looked like something I could wear with jeans but also with a nicer outfit if I wanted. It was in the sale section, so it was a really good deal. I love the way it nips in at the waist and I really dig the big collar. Black wasn't my first choice, of course, but it is often the most practical. Oh, I really like this jacket. It's by a label called ILARY, which I believe is Italian. I don't know it, but I'm willing to give it a try.

Unfortunately, while I was on YOOX.COM looking at filled jackets I also stumbled across a wool one that I had somehow missed during my previous search:



Oh, boy. How cute is that? This is C'N'C COSTUME NATIONAL. I worry, of course, about that cream color, but hey -- that's what Scotchgard is for, right? It's a classic shape without being boring and it's sharp as hell. Oh, I really like this jacket, too.

(And, not for nothin', there were several others that I also really liked. Those were the two I narrowed it down to after a lot of dithering.)

I cannot decide between these two jackets, I just cannot. So that's when I came up with my cunning plan: I'll order both of them and return the one that doesn't work. One of them is bound not to fit -- I'm ordering online and it's always too much to hope that everything in a multiple-item order from an e-tailer is going to fit -- that never happens. It's also rare that something is as good in real life as it looks on the screen.

Well, so much for my cunning plan. I am hoist, as they say, on my own petard.

Here's the black jacket:


I love this. I love the shape of it. It fits perfectly -- Here I'm wearing a blouse and a cashmere sweater underneath it, and I could definitely get another layer or a heavier sweater on under it and it still look neat and sleek. This is a poly-filled jacket, not down, but it feels like it would be plenty warm for Austin, and best of all -- it weighs nothing. My unlined denim jacket weighs more than this -- I love how easy it is to move in.


The collar cinches up, although I'd probably still need a scarf to keep my neck warm. My neck is my cold place -- if my neck is cold, I cannot get the rest of me warm. I think everyone has a cold place, it varies from person to person. Of course, I nearly always do wear a scarf, for that reason, so it's not going to be an inconvenience.



Another bonus is that the snap closures are neat enough that when the jacket is open it doesn't look sloppy or wrong. The jacket will probably spend more of its life hanging open than completely done up (I think we all do this), and I don't like when the undone fastenings of a jacket or coat are sloppy or ugly or distracting. I wish more designers would take that into account.



And I really love the shape of this -- that waist is fab. The hardware is good & heavy, the pockets are in the right place, and there are some other great small details, like the horizontal padding on the sleeves is only on the top of the sleeves, so that there isn't extra bulk between the arm & my body. All in all, this is a great jacket, and if I had bumped into this bad boy on one of my many fruitless & frustrating jacket-hunting shopping trips, I would have snapped it up and called myself both lucky and thrilled.

Here's where the cunning plan fell apart:



Look. More fabulousness. Omigoodness, this jacket is great. The wool feels soft enough that I'd think there was some cashmere in it (the label just says 100% virgin wool, although the description on the website did say there was cashmere) and, as you can see, the color is actually not cream -- it's more like a milky latte color, in between camel & cream, which is even better. (YOOX.COM photos are SO inaccurate for color -- I love this site because they have great prices on interesting goods and their CS is great, but unless it's black, order with the knowledge that the color of the garment may bear only a passing resemblance to what you saw on your computer screen.)



That great collar does up all the way and then rolls down neatly, making a nice toasty neck funnel. The sleeves are a bit too long, I have them cuffed and I don't think it looks all that bad because of the way they are seamed. And speaking of the seaming -- it's just gorgeous. This is a beautifully-constructed coat -- the lining is really nice and the stitching is neat and smooth and the seams are double-stitched.


This coat also fits really well and still has room for another layer or two underneath. It is of course heavier than the filled jacket, but the armholes are well-cut and don't restrict, and the coat itself is nice & short, so I can scoot in & out of my car without struggling with it. (The other important thing about a short coat is that I have to deal with it when I arrive where I'm going. Here in Austin, we don't usually have coat checks at restaurants and bars, so unless you want to leave it on the whole time, you have to drape it over the back of your chair or fold it up & sit on top of it on your barstool. As anyone who knows how I feel about my clothes can probably imagine, I do not exactly love seeing my coat dragging across a dirty floor or getting stepped on by the busboy as he drops off the bread basket.)



This coat is a wee bit dressier than the black one, of course. Not too dressy, it's still okay for jeans, but might work better with a nice skirt or day dress than would the filled jacket. If I had bumped into this bad boy on one of my many fruitless & frustrating jacket-hunting shopping trips, I would have snapped it up and called myself both lucky and thrilled.

So. Now you see my dilemma. Which of these jackets am I keeping? They were both great prices, but I really only need one jacket. So help a redhead out, wouldja? Vote in the poll in the upper right corner of the blog and tell me which jacket you like. And why, in the comments, if you're so inclined. State your case. Provide me with some clarity. Because it's supposed to get cold again later in the week and I'm going to need a jacket. HELP!!!


Photos: Yoox.com, Style Spy

Pretty for Friday -- January 2

Hello, everyone! And Happy 2009!! It's a new year and we all have resolutions, I'm sure. One of mine is to not let these two-week dead zones happen on the blog, but I have to tell you -- this has been by far the most hectic holiday season I've ever experienced and it had nothing to do with the actual holidays. La Maman de Style Spy is finally here and snugged into her little rental duplex and mostly unpacked and her dog is no longer staying here and giving my Shine the hairy eyeball. So I'm hoping things get back to normal soon -- better than normal, because my mom is nearby and that makes me very happy.

What else makes me happy? A good coat. It's winter, or what we get of winter here. The most reliable indicator of winter in these parts is actually the shortness of the days rather than the dropped temperatures (it was in the 70s on Christmas Day, and yes, that's just how I like it). But it does get cold at night once the sun goes down, and I found this year that I was without a winter coat. I had a gorgeous one, that I'd bought a few years ago to wear to Paris in February, a beautiful camel wool notch-collar full-length number that I adored. But it was on the biggish side when I bought it, and after my weight loss last year it was positively enormous on me. So I've been paying a lot of attention to winter coats this year, which are not exactly thick on the ground in a place where it gets to 70° on Christmas. I did finally manage to score one, though, and a good one at that. I got it from Connie Day, my favorite dealer (and I mean that in every sense of the word) at the Austin Antique Mall. Connie is a swell gal and her stock is mind-blowing. She has everything from Edwardian delicates to swingin' 70's polyester, as well as tons of home goods and some very delectable vintage handbags. I took Connie a bag or two of things I could no longer wear and we worked out a trade and so I scored this gorgeous thing:



for a total of zero dollars. It's beautiful vintage cashmere with a mink collar and a silk lining, with some amazing detailing on the back



The label indicates that the coat is from Jordan Marsh, a venerable old Boston department store that was eventually eaten (as so many of them have been) by Macy's Inc.



That's one of the things I love about vintage clothing -- imagining their travels before they got to me. Who bought this? Who wore it? How did it get to Austin? I'll never know. I do know that it makes me feel oh-so-Betty-Draper when I wear it, especially with an Hermes scarf wrapped around my neck, and that is a very good thing.



So I've come to know now that I really love a fur collar. I have a pencil neck, it must be said, and if my neck isn't warm, none of me feels warm. But a nice fur collar? Mmmmmmmm, yumminess. If further proof were needed of said yumminess, I present Exhibit B:




This is a cashmere cardigan from Robert Rodriguez which I salivated over in a post this past summer, when it was still way too expensive for me. But I watched & waited patiently, and it eventually went on sale, and then the nice people at Neiman Marcus made it even more on sale by putting it in their extra 40% off sale (still going on!) which put it under the cut-off line. It's been my only purchase this winter, my one splurge in a very tightly-controlled personal economic climate, and I do not regret it one iota. I adore it. That fur is breathtakingly soft. It's not quite as soft as this



but it does have the advantage of staying put around my neck. Above fluffiness refuses to do that, even with the promise of fishy treats for her trouble.

A note: you can click on the photo for the cardigan above and order it (at the fab sale price!) but they only have one size available. I don't know in what universe a size 4 is a "medium," (well, apparently in Robert Rodriguez's universe) but that's what they're calling it. Don't be fooled. 4 is small. I'm pretty petite through the torso and the "medium" is as small as I could have gone with this.

So when I went looking for my Pretty for Friday for this week I ran into this and it seemed like a good call.

Robert Rodriguez Fur Collar Coat

Gorgeous, gorgeous coat, and also from Rodriguez, so I'm guessing the fox collar is of the same quality as the one on my cardigan. Which is to say that if you're anything like me you're never going to want to take it off (although you can -- for cleaning, of course).

Happy New Year, everyone! Anyone have fashion resolutions? I'd sure love to hear them!




Photos: oregonlive.com, Style Spy, saks.com