Return of the yellow jacket

I've had the worst luck at estate sales over the past few months and I really wasn't wanting to get up for this morning's, but I felt like I had to go since it promised vintage clothing and was only three miles away.  But unlike the sales I've gone to lately the clothing promised really was vintage!  Well, mostly '60s, but cute anyway--some little lace dresses and a tweed jacket and some '60s coats. The best thing I found by far was this little goldish-yellow jacket . . . Supposedly it had belonged to an actress in the '60s; her daughters were in charge of the estate sale and--in terrific New York accents--kept trying to get me to buy a similar green coat instead, saying that it was in much better shape, but I only had eyes for the yellow one.  And of course when I got it home I saw that they were right--it needs a good drycleaning and the hem's completely undone.

I really don't mind paying a little extra to have it freshened up though because I think it might be the '60s jacket I've been looking for.  My love of yellow coats started up almost three years ago when I found a little Aquascutum coat at the thrift store.  I wore that thing as much as you can get away with wearing a yellow coat . . . it may have been bright, but back then I was into much brighter things than I am now, and whenever people made jokes about how they could see me coming from blocks away I just fake-laughed them off.  And then when my style started to gravitate towards more subtle colors and less graphic shapes I put the coat in the back of my closet and forgot about it.

The Aquascutum thrift store find . . . . . Trying on a Milly coat in the dance club mall . . . . . Elizabeth Hooks in an old issue of Lucky.

But then last year some time I saw the most amazing goldenrod-y yellow '60s coat worn by an Anthropologie fashion merchandiser in Lucky Magazine, and it sent me on a hunt for a new version of a '60s yellow coat.   I ended up selling the Aquascutum coat, but never found a replacement 'till today.  The new one is a bit more subtle in color than the more mod one that I sold, but I think that the best thing about it is its shape--smaller and more fitted, with a daintier (I kind of hate that word, but it fits!) collar and sleeves, and then little rhinestone covered buttons that are sort of old lady-ish, but maybe in a good way.  And then the length is absolutely perfect, which you really can't tell from the photos since the hem's hanging loose and looking terrible.  Actually the whole thing's in pretty bad shape right now, but by Fall I'm going to do my best to have it all dry-cleaned and tailored up and ready to put on my blog.  And I'm crossing my fingers that by then my hair will be long again, too--seeing photos with my hair all long and kind of ratty makes me wish I never cut it!