Everyone knows that there are answers that you think you should say and the truthful answers that you want to hide away. In the numerous interviews that I've done, when people ask me what is my most treasured item in my closet, I don't really have one particular thing that I treasure the most but I flimsily say something like 1920's chinese kimono or my vintage Balenciaga coat. These answers have some element of truth in them but I don't think I will ever treasure an item as much as I did with my Levi's denim jacket which my dad bought for me in a vintage shop. Except if I said that now, people would be guffawing over the fact I said 'Denim Jacket'. But the truth is, when I was 13, I loved that jacket to bits and wore it to death. I'd layer it with lots of sweaters and scarves in the cold even though I should have been wearing a bulkier coat. I'd wear it inappropriately when the occasion called for smarter things. Being vintage, it was actually two sizes too big for me yet for some inexplicable reason, I loved loved loved it. Don't ask me why I felt a natty Levi's jacket was so empowering but for a 13 year old, I felt awesome so much so that I'd be bouncing around thinking 'Awesome' in my head in that 'Cecile from Cruel Intentions' chirpy bouncy way. Can anyone say sad? Sadly (or fortunately depending on your opinion on medium wash blue denim jackets...) the whereabouts of this jacket, I can't even tell you what with all the uni-moving etc.
Denim jacket memories were deeply buried and in any case, I never came across ones that made me feel that way ever since. The Topshop Moto ones which everyone bought for a while? Nah... Seeking out a similar vintage one? Too light and too tight (as hipster uniform dictates the way denim jackets should be....). Until the lovely Dree at Urban Collection sourced me a vintage Jordache jacket which was exactly the right shade and in addition has a few more bits and bobs to it - a belt assymetric front zips and zips on the sleeves which I promptly had to snap because at that very moment, waves of 13 year old me bouncing along with a high ponytail and listening to Blur on my discman washed over me.
Some denim jacket cliches which I love...
Using patterned tights to detract away from the supposed 'boring' stereotype of a denim jacket // A short flirty skirt with a denim jacket that says 'I'm casual but not a slob...'.
Ah... the lumberjack shirt and the denim jacket....'nuff said // Florals and denim jacket that a lot of Aaron Spelling TV show characters adopted for a while...
Ooh, I love those tights in photo #1!
Posted by: WendyB | 31 January 2008 at 21:11
When I was 16, my first boyfriend gave me a well-worn vintage Levis jacket from an eclectic used-clothing store on Newbury Street in Boston. It was exactly the right thing to give as a gift, and two sizes too big. I wonder what hippie had been sporting it at a Grateful Dead concert (back then, denim jackets were generally only worn by Dead followers--they were not yet Deadheads...) and how much weed he had smoked while checking out trippy little flower girls. Peace, man.
The thing is, though, one really only wore jackets like that with jeans or cords and clogs. It wasn't then considered a Canadian tux; in fact it was simply the coolest mode of dress for the semi-druggy, music-inflected subculture I inhabited.
Much later, I will confess, I did wear a similar jacket a la Tory Spelling. With Doc Martens and some floral mini I got on Melrose. That look was huge, for a slow Los Angeles minute.
Posted by: Suzanna | 31 January 2008 at 21:19
on one hand i' m excited you finally mention JORDACHE in your blog , on the other hand it's been so cheap to get the fantastic JORDACHE vintage goods on Ebay....so far.
Posted by: nick | 31 January 2008 at 21:27
i must admit,i'm not a fan of denim on anything other than jeans, but i do love this jacket (:
Posted by: annah | 31 January 2008 at 22:16
Your tights are incredible! It's like ribbons for the legs. And I like the denim jacket, I recently got one--my first one. I was very resistent to it, because there are negative connotations for me, but it turned out really nice! I like it!
Posted by: The Clothes Horse | 31 January 2008 at 22:40
Hi WendeeBee Tx for making such a generous comment, full of real-life input... How's this for an intense denim jacket moment...? You've fallen in luv with somebody (you can't have 'coz he belongs to somebody else). Mr X often sports a vintage denim jacket, over and above several layers of cool modern clothing... You're on vacation in your country place & unearth one of your own old denim jackets, with a similar texture to impossible loverboy's denim jacket... You don't wear it very often (because you're confronted with the same problem as Susie's - you'd like to like it, but you don't know what to wear it with right now!)... So, you just hang it up in your closet, & touch it fleetingly every time you walk past it, thinking of Denim'man... Let's not lose sight of smell'n'texture in our virtual fashion world...!
Posted by: Scaree Gee-Oh! | 31 January 2008 at 23:12
Oops! Sorry! Think I read the wrong line... was answering Suzanna's message not WendyB's quick tights quip! Anyway, hi to everyboD!
Posted by: Scaree Gee-Oh! | 31 January 2008 at 23:18
Just the other day i was trying to think of new ways to wear the denim jacket! And thanks to the belt thing that came with ur Jordache denim jacket, i think i'm going to belt mine! :-)
Posted by: cordelia | 31 January 2008 at 23:25
When I was 2 or 3 I had an Osh Kosh denim jacket and I had to had to had to wear it everyday. AND I stuck badges all over the front of it. Bit an odd toddler...
I also had a Levis one when I was a bit older
Posted by: Lyndsay | 31 January 2008 at 23:44
THIS is why I love my job, Susie..shared excitement for all things that take us back in time..
xoxoDree
Posted by: dree | 01 February 2008 at 00:13
how do u have tights that are 2 differnt colourd legs? did u buy them? make them? have i imagined them? i want them.
I hate denim jackets tho, when i was about 15 i bought one because... i was a huge fashion victim and wanted to look like all my friends *cringe* i wore it once and im glad no one took a picture, denim was never ment for jacket form.
Posted by: Stefania Liberti | 01 February 2008 at 00:36
that jacket definitely goes well with those florals
Posted by: Fashion Tidbits | 01 February 2008 at 01:04
that jacket is great... and those tights! wow!
Posted by: lady coveted | 01 February 2008 at 02:38
Hey, I am new to your site, but I'm loving it! I think that denim jackets are a tricky business, however the right one can be amazing. I think that this jacket really works.
Posted by: Adrienne | 01 February 2008 at 03:45
That denim incarnation of the classic Brando biker jacket is so cool-looking in that stonewash color; so '80s. Or something. I love what you did with it. And those silver-and-buff leggings are the shite.
Posted by: enc | 01 February 2008 at 05:08
i was once given a denim jacket, which i did quite like for awhile then i gave it away because it was well, a denim jacket. sigh... no sense in regretting my actions now.
btw, i just tagged you :)
Posted by: evie | 01 February 2008 at 07:04
the coloured tights - WHERE did you get them?! i must know! x
Posted by: Anna V | 01 February 2008 at 08:54
Lovely denim memories ppl... keep them coming... keeping this short as I'm on a silly BT openzone internet voucher...
Anna V: Mytights.com by Celeste Stein! ; )
Posted by: susie_bubble | 01 February 2008 at 09:10
Thats a beautiful jacket &hearts
Posted by: mash | 01 February 2008 at 09:34
I have to comment on your hair. It's so shiny and sleek. Love the old hair do as well. You suit both very well and have really nice hair. :)
Posted by: fauxfauxreal | 01 February 2008 at 10:20
I had a flowered denim button-down skirt that I wore to death between the ages of 14 and 21...sadly, a shortening experiment took an inch too many off the hem. My favourite ever piece of clothing, though, was a pink chiffon blouse with a matching pink chiffon rose at the neck. I really loved that flower- sadly, one of my attempts to make sure it didn't go missing resulted in just that- I never saw it again. But I still have the blouse itself- it was oversized when I was eight, but now that I'm 23 it looks ok with a camisole (though I can never look at it without thinking of my lost rose).
Bah, I'm rambling. At thirteen I was really clueless- prancing around in miniskirts and sheer stockings with NO clue about the word 'Lolita' at all..
Posted by: Drusilla | 01 February 2008 at 11:51
I always wanted a GAP denim jacket when growing up, but we didn't have GAP in Brazil and I wasn't going to the States all the time like some other girls in my school. By the time I had enough age and money to travel abroad, I had forgotten all about it...
Then about 2 years ago I spoted a very similar jacket in London, again at GAP. Needless to say I bought it straight away. I don't really wear it much (same problem as the other gals), but everytime I look at it, it kind of makes me proud of the fact that I did become a grown up who can take care of herself (well, sort of...).
Posted by: Guerreira | 01 February 2008 at 12:10
those tights are hot! where are they from? O.O!
Posted by: | 01 February 2008 at 13:33
Chinese kimono? Kimono is a Japanese garment!
Posted by: Anon | 01 February 2008 at 15:45
I lovee those print tights, I recently found a bunch of really cool pairs at artfulwears.com. They instantly add a funky flair to any outfit. You should check them out!
Posted by: Style Finder | 01 February 2008 at 18:13
You are mentioned in the Dutch Grazia magazine.
Posted by: dandelion | 01 February 2008 at 20:34
In a less a sentimental mode, compared to my last comment... Catch SCAREE GEE-OH!s Kira Plastinina @ NYC Fash Week post, with linx to Coutorture & Style Bubble's (denim) Jacketed Memories... Suzee, you're so-ooo real in zee so-oooo virtual world we all luv! XXG:-)
Posted by: Scaree Gee-Oh! | 01 February 2008 at 21:42
I still pine for the acid wash denim jacket purchased for me by my Nanny when I was 14...little denim bows and zippers galore!
Posted by: adahpotato | 02 February 2008 at 06:18
You just made tights I would otherwise consider crazy make sense.
Posted by: Jael | 03 February 2008 at 01:12
Those leggings are wild, where do you find all this stuff?!!
Posted by: Jen | 03 February 2008 at 02:21
luvin that bright shot of orange :P
Posted by: nanniescrochet | 03 February 2008 at 10:24
omg! love the silver leggins!!! they look so coooool! want them, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bye
Posted by: alexandra | 03 February 2008 at 11:26
i think the orange & black tights are from american apparel, they sell some almost exactly like them.
your boots are amazing !!
are they balenciaga ?
i definitely need to know :]
x.
jh
Posted by: jessicahaleigh. | 03 February 2008 at 21:25