FIMTSO: The Tweed Jacket

One of my favorite fashion routines is collecting CHANEL RTW. Every season I peruse the runway pictures as they hit Style.com or spy pics from various sources and make a wish list. Trunk shows roll around, editorials show up in print and electronic publications, and I begin whittling my list down to a very short list. At these price points, it becomes more and more necessary to build a tight collection–I want to buy well with pieces that complement my wardrobe and splurge once in a while on a very special “dream” item. In the end, it has to be quality over quantity.
One of the reasons I have focused so much on this label is because, season after season, I am able to find something timeless yet modern. Yes, the problem with that is that, as a friend told me, things get boring if you don’t expand your fashion horizon. One tweed jacket eventually looks like the next, especially since this brand has such a distinctive look about it. But what’s kept me in the game is that every collection comes with a twist. A quirk. A cool button here, a beautiful trim there. And ultimately, the fabric doesn’t stop getting better. The day the fabric stops captivating me is the day I leave a label.
Anyway, that’s just a roundabout intro to our next FIMTSO episode: the tweed jacket, which I know you all have one (or more) somewhere in your closet. It’s a challenge to make one look not so dowdy or…well, preppy. In my head I want to dress like a rockstar, but my closet is a shrine to Coco. Let’s see if I can build 3 looks with one of my dowdiest (plaid + tweed–can it get any worse? 😀) jackets. I love me some of that tweed fringe though. Sigh.

Test Item: 04P silk blend tweed jacket

Look 1: this is my casual look with the dirty rinse skinny jeans and some wedge espadrilles (both from Target!). The beaded tank is by Tory Burch. Based on these photos, I’m thinking I should never buy jeans in this rinse again and just stick to my dark denims.

Look 2: a versatile jacket should also work with a skirt or dress, right? So here it is paired with a Chanel denim dress and same shoes. I usually wear a tiny cardi over this dress.

Look 3: this is actually my favorite way to wear this jacket, over a white Gap tank and theory linen pants. I complete the look with a pair of sneakers. I call it my Gatsby look–shouldn’t I be playing croquet or lawn tennis or something?

November 5, 2010