Jackets, Originality, Reinventing Classics

Jackets, Originality, Reinventing Classics

Today I wanted to write about designing, specifically of classic styles. When I approach making a classic like a peacoat or a trench for example, there’s a specific way I like to go about developing it. Now, this might cause quite a conversation in a room of designers but in my experience instead to going straight to the original or vintage archival pieces to examine details and fit, I try to think or imagine (also trying to not look at photos) what I think they should or could look like. We all have faint memories of a jacket a person wore long ago, or a dress on someone that stuck in your head. It can be the color or the stitching or the print that etches into your brain- I always find it kind of fascinating to try to recreate the feelings of these garments from memory as well as the visual aspect.

I know many designers choose to replicate and upgrade a style, but keep the cut relatively the same. This makes total sense, since the customer recognizes what it is but sees it as an elevated version and it reads exactly as the classic. I do use this technique sometimes with pieces that I want to look exactly a certain way and it isn’t necessary always to try to reinvent. However, over time I have noticed the styles I end up loving the most start in my head and sometimes bear no resemblance to the classics they were based on in the end. I am glad they convey the feeling of the classic, (or maybe just my feeling of it) but then they also become something totally different. Let’s start with an example of a military jacket.

I think my obsession with this kind of jacket started when I was first in New York in my early 20’s circa 2004. Marc by Marc Jacobs undeniably was so cool at that time. I worked in the evenings across the street from the Marc Jacobs design studio on Mercer Street, and on my way to work I would see all the cool kids leaving the studio and I was obsessed with their insouciant style. I remember buying a denim ruffled military jacket at the Bleeker Street store that was cropped to the waist with a ruffle, slightly shrunken with a row of oversized buttons down the front. I thought it was so cool- not quite military or Victorian or 60’s, some mix of it all. I couldn’t place the style exactly but I wore it constantly.

I have always been obsessed with a very fitted shoulder since then, and after Parsons I took a good amount of time to develop my sleeve sloper (a term for a basic pattern) and fit. For my Avion shoulder and sleeve, the notch sits a little higher on the shoulder bone, creating the kind of shrunken, slouchy, narrow shoulder that I love. Of course I can imagine my Eastern European tailoring teachers yelping at this shoulder being way too narrow. But, for this jacket I stubbornly stuck with the slender sleeve whether it was technically correct or not.

Around this time, I decided to try to make my own version of a lightweight military jacket. I now had the perfect sleeve for a shrunken shoulder that I described above and I added a break seam to it at the elbow for comfort as a design detail. I widened the body to a more a-line swing coat style hitting at the hip and added a peter pan collar. I hunted for cool vintage crest buttons at beloved Tender Buttons ( sidenote- if someone can tell me what became of their button archive I would be eternally grateful that place was heavenly.) Finally, I found a gorgeous navy cavalry twill wool fabric and my uniform jacket was born.

Avion Uniform Jacket, vintage buttons, Marc by Marc Jacobs Jacket

People really liked it and suddenly I was making jackets for friends, editors and customers and it helped me get my collection going while I was learning how to design, make patterns and produce a line on my own. I have made this jacket for people in cotton twill, cashmere, silk and cotton, wool- you name it. The crest buttons are its signature and silk lining or silk bias binding inside. It’s a swing coat so it fit me from my days in NY, through my pregnancy to today where this photo is snapped. This olive one is 15 years old, the lining is a little tattered but still intact, but it has been worn hundreds of times, and my navy is a few years old. I don’t know how much they read as military jackets but this was how the process started and what they became in the end.

Perhaps I am writing about this because I wonder what people think about what it means to be original and how it matters. I do remember at the start of my designing career being very concerned with originality and doing something different of my own design completely. These days I am mostly concerned with the feeling of the garment and how it fits and how it makes a client feel even if it is more simple or not visibly that different. Perhaps being a little more experienced has made me realize that my job is not to make something complicated but to make someone feel confident in their clothes. Of course my own style reflects in my work and maybe that is the originality in the end or how it all fits together. Maybe, the personal aspect of that is what makes things original. I do feel like the brands that I connect to feel like one person is designing them with their own singular vision. Trends of course dictate so much of what we see dominantly on a mass level, but I love to find smaller designers (or bigger designers) expressing their vision singularly for their customer. To end this, here are a few designers, some that I carry at my shop and others not, that I feel are doing this that I would recommend to check out.

Private 0204: this line is quietly luxurious, amazing craftsmanship especially for their knitwear and silk pieces. They are elegant, understated pieces that all fit together. The woman that loves this line is sophisticated and doesn’t need labels or logos, just beautiful fabrics and a perfect cut.

Dries Van Noten: Obviously a big independent brand, but he is the king of singular style and beauty and I feel so romanced every time I go into his store in Paris or here in LA with his use of prints, his play on feminine and masculine cuts and the beautiful fabrics. He is an avid gardener and you feel that in his love of unusual florals and textures and prints. He has just retired from designing his line, but I hope someone great from his team will carry it on for him.

Frances de Lourdes: is a knitwear line based in New York with such beautiful t-shirts and everyday pieces. I really appreciate the cut, the fabric, the attention to detail. If you don’t have one of their pieces I would consider the investment for effortless chic.

Mayle: I was in love with everything Mayle in my twenties and would frequent the Elizabeth Street store in Nolita. I love her point of view- the style is not perhaps what I am wearing now as much, but at that time I wanted to wear it all. Even the smell of the store with those red currant candles burning, left such an impression. I think she is very talented.

Do you have recommendations for me? Send me a comment below I always like to check out new brands. I will be dispatching from Copenhagen next week! I will do my first post for paid subscribers with a more in depth travel post so feel free to subscribe to that below if you’re interested, but I will also do a regular free post. Have a lovely week. Ps if you’re interested in these jackets I make them custom for people in different fabrics and in navy always at my store.

x Katherine