Dear Ann,
A couple of weeks ago, reader Helen G emailed me a tantalizing image from a fashion article in that weekend’s T Magazine.
I went digging in my pile of New York Times, but the magazine was not there. I was so excited by that glimpse of vintage Jean-Paul Gaultier sweater that I asked Helen G if she would mind sending me the magazine if she still had it. (It was worth the risk of Helen G thinking me a weirdo for needing to see this picture better, and anyway, my position is that Helen started it.)
The magazine has arrived. (Thanks, Helen!) The article has sent me into reveries about oversized coats and distressed sweaters.I still have an oversized coat from the mid-90s. It has raglan shoulders, so it almost looks like some of my 80s getups. It goes nearly to the ground, a drapey slanket of cashmere. I don’t wear it very often, and never did, because the length requires me to hitch it up when going up and down stairs, and it really is more of a statement coat than the Kay Lifestyle ordinarily requires. It looks kind of funny right now, in this age of trimmed-down silhouettes. But I remember finding it on the super sale rack at Saks (or was it Macy’s), being in need of a black coat, and being egged on by a master egger-onner, our pal Elisabeth.
Anyway, what I’m really interested in is this sweater, the one that Helen sent me. I have questions. Did Jean-Paul Gaultier get out his draper’s scissors and get his scherenschnitte on, or did that happen later? I love the precision of the cuts between the argyle sections. The dangling strands of yarn remind me of Belinda’s distressed black Burberry duster coat with hanging red and black threads. Not many people can pull off the Elegant Ragpicker look, but Belinda sure as heck could. I love the cropped sweater-over-baggy-shirt shape.
The price of this Prada sweater: $2700. Ann: knitting is saving us SO MUCH MONEY. [This is my Dead Serious expression.]
Here’s another vintage sweater from the article. Same short-over-long, trim-over-baggy shape. It’s only June, but I’m getting excited for fall, and maybe cutting up some sweaters. And not for nothing, but my Kaffe Fassett Big Flower jacket is going to fit right in. Let’s wear fun clothes! We’re not getting any younger!
Love,
Kay
I love a baggy 90s look. I still, however, think giant baggy coats over midriff-baring distressed sweaters over oversized manly shirts might look better on twiggy 20-somethings. But what the heck, let’s do it, indeed!
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
🙂 🙂 🙂
I’m with you sister! With (ahem) maturity comes freedom from the youthful self-consciousness of fashion rules. Now is the time to wear fun clothes! These pictures have me thinking about big shoulder pads. I really miss those
I’ve been wearing the short over long thing for awhile, but maybe not this short and this long. I love the idea. Drops has been putting out all its old pre-2000 sweaters on Ravelry this week, and I am awed by the size of the shoulder pads, and the huge sleeves!, to sy nothing of the color. But a tidy little shortie vest…I can get behind that I think (I know I wore that all the time in some distant decade)
Man, you aren’t kidding! For anybody else who wants to take a trip in the Drops time machine, check this:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#source-link=drops-design&view=large_photos&sort=created
(that link is only gonna work right this week)
The thing that’s getting me is all those hilarious model arm positions… is that to show off the voluptuous voluminousness of the sleeves?
OMG!!!
The half-a-face intarsia with shoulder pads…
I remember knitting several patterns from this booklet
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/designer-handknitting-collection-number-2
as a teenager -including the multicoloured entrelac, a jacket (double breastfed of course) with enormous leg o’ mutton sleeves (they were vast -could of hidden a a week’s groceries in them) and a cardigan of many different cables.
I loved them!
So excited to have fed the blog! Love where you took it – well worth the trip to the post office!
Let’s note that when you’re barely a size 2, just about any shirt is baggy, and when you’re a tad wider, big shoulder pads make your hips look smaller 😉
I even knitted shoulder pads for a hand knit sweater from that era!
I’m reveling in my 15 minutes of fame, and with a Hamilton reference, too! (At least according to my brain, tuned to its All-Hamilton-All-The-Time station.)
FUN CLOTHES! Yes!
Who cares if the line between Elegant Ragpicker and Crazy Homeless Lady is razor thin?! We’re having fun!
I love these looks and especially love Gaultier, and it’s true, we will never be any younger than we are today. X
Those sweaters are DREAMY. My JPG construction guess is not twisting the strands for intarsia except where it’s joined. I have tried to culture the elegant ragpicker look…I have at less half of it down to a science 😉
That argyle thingie! It’s really more an accessory than a sweater, but I could love a version of it. Maybe without the threads hanging down. Mine would end up tangled in seatbelts and chairs and stuff.
And I hear you on the color. I have a friend who adores neon shades for sweaters and cardis. At first, I wondered if her vision was failing….I mean a part of me was amazed that someone my age would walk out the door in a neon pink cardi….but I now find myself looking forward to the lovely dose of zing she provides. It brings a smile, which is nothing but good, right?
I’m liking a slice of neon in stuff. Mini zing. And Nikes with a ton of crazy in them seem like an excellent use of crazy. That said, my two sons are wearing only the most black and white Adidas possible. Generation gap!!!
I think that if I were about 90 lbs, I may be able to pull that look off, but I appreciate it on others!
As Edina might say to Saffy: It may look like a rag, Sweetie Darling, but it’s Gaultier. Gaultier, Sweetie Darling, Gaultier.
I think I need a Bolli-Stoli…
OK I’m kind of weirded out. Last night, literally, I was pulling coats to send to the cleaner, and I found my raglan sleeve black coat that was my beloved beloved when I lived in New York in the late ’80s. It falls to about six inches above the ground, like wearing a woolly house, with a small round collar. I still adore it. Can we just make these coats a thing again? I felt like Grace Kelly in that coat.
Oh SO much to say about this post. Age and dressing…hmmm. I know women in their late 70’s who would fantastic in this look and girls in their 20’s who would look ridiculous. I have LONG ascribed to the axiom that self confidence is the best accessory. I wholeheartedly concur that wearing fun clothes is where it’s at. And that confidence (and good grooming) saves us from being Mutton Dressed as Lamb.
Life is way too short to feel like crap about oneself. And that’s why I wear sequined hot pants to pick my high schoolers up from the bus. (Not really- though I threaten often).
So if you feel beautiful/powerful/happy/sexy/confident GO FOR IT.
That said I’m in my late 40s and getting a tattoo soon. I always heard “you’ll have to live with it the rest of your life” I’m good with that.
I have on fun shoes, but I must admit that I am not adventurous enough in the FUN CLOTHES department. I even work in a creative industry and still dress like a sporty mom half the time.
That “argyle sweater” looks like it would be fun to do by just knitting two different color squares and felting them – then sewing together with the gaps as shown. The accent strand could then also be sewn on afterward. I’m thinking short vest or perhaps a scarf or cowl type thing. Definitely would be fun to do (the squares could be summer pool knitting) and to wear.
Those little sweaters that end somewhere mid-ribs? With long strands of yarn dangling? Looks like a WIP to me and hey……. maybe some of my WIPs are really FOs and I didn’t realize it? Brilliant!!!!!
I don’t know if I pull off the Elegant Ragpicker look, but it’s home. And I can’t even credit/blame my attitude on maturity; it’s been Comfort!First! as long as I can remember. Certainly since my rebellion against the skinny elastic chinstrap meant to hold the Easter bonnet on my teeny toddler head. And that scritchyscratchy dress at my 4th grade piano recital…oh my gosh, the tiny hairs on my arms are literally standing straight up now…quick! need soft cotton caftan!
I have had an obsession with late 80s to mid 90s Matsuda since, um, the late 80s. That stuff was so fabulous. I occasionally score something on Ebay, like an ankle-length, crush-pleated, tubular black skirt. IT’S BACK! (But in my closet, it was never over.)
I have a huge white wool coat from my grandma that was THIS CLOSE to going to Goodwill. You’re telling me I need to hang on to it and wear the bejeebus out of it next winter? It has shoulders so wide there are pleats…
Like KT, I have so much to say about all of this. First, I totally agree with “let’s wear fun clothes! We’re not getting any younger!” This is very much in line with my philosophy of life, and much easier to do with my smaller post-Whole30 body, which is still tall, broad-shouldered and narrow-hipped. (Still wheat-, dairy-, and coffee-free, BTW.) That being said, a lot of my replacement clothes purchases have been mundane t-shirts, jeans, sweatshirts, etc., appropriate to life in a small town on the Oregon coast. But I’ve also got some fun stuff (mostly second-hand) in interesting colors, styles, and prints. Like a dark green denim duster that yes, had shoulder pads. But I took out the shoulder pads and wore the duster over otherwise “normal” clothes and received positive feedback. I think that the secret for ahem…women of a certain age…is to add non-standard clothing in small doses, as an accent, if you will. In the case of a black cashmere coat that almost sweeps the floor, it’s a big accent, I’ll grant you! Oh, and the only-one-unusual-thing-at-a-time suggestion is waived for Iris Apfel. If you’re Iris Apfel, you can do whatever you want!
There is an old WSJ magazine with a gorgeous cable knit sweater on the cover that I’m dying to find. Maybe your friend has that too???????
I have in my closet a stunning Calvin Klein trench coat from 1988 or so. Great big shoulders, ankle length, a belt eight inches wide. It cost $600 bucks but I got it on sale for $90, still a huge sum, at Saks. recently showed it to my 20 something kid and she asked if I once had a job dressing up as Inspector Gadget.
I have a long, black, wool Eileen Fisher coat….no buttons, just falls and drapes….it is mine forever!
I’ve found that many of the J Jill(Pure Jill esp) pieces are similar in style and cut…boxy and with a nice drape to EF. So I’ve been layering a JJ kimono sweater over a shorter dress and leggings or a cotton tunic sweater over a longer tunic tee and (not too )full slacks.
I discovered I was wearing the “Lagenlook” look.
And it is fun! And I feel ‘young’!
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I just told me colleagues this the other day…I am going to start buying shoes that I love and don’t care if they match or anything! I have nothing to lose! I have all my friends I need and there will be no judgement. Just like the song…”Let’s give them something to talk about”!
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