What We Wore

Oldies but goodies. From left to right, my  late 1970s Christian Dior wool jacket, Nancy’s  cool-weather jacket from Chanel and my Pierre Cardin tweed coat.

By Janet Kelly

YOU KNOW how it is; you start talking about one thing and then somehow you’re off on a tangent to a totally different subject. So it went with a recent conversation with my colleague Nancy McKeon. Just like that, the discussion turned from . . . neither of us remembers . . . to what were the oldest items in our closet we own and even wear.

I tend to keep my clothes a long time, sometimes past their overdue date. It’s better for the environment, true, but maybe you’ve noticed that your older dresses, skirts, sweaters, etc., are made of higher quality fabrics and their overall construction is better.  So, why ditch them for more expensive, not as well-made clothing. Of course, if they’re hopelessly out of fashion. Even then, if you hold onto them long enough, just wait—that style will return in some way or another.

I bought this Christian Dior Sportswear jacket in 1979. I remember wearing it with a sleeveless, high-neck, polka dot chiffon blouse and a pleated black midi skirt to a party to impress an ex-boyfriend. The chiffon blouse didn’t last but I kept the skirt until just a few years ago—the wool started to shine—and the waistline seemed to have gotten, er, tighter.

Remember back to when Bloomingdale’s had these shopping extravaganzas focusing on a particular country, including Italy, France, India and China. In 1978, when the store was featuring India, my mother and I went browsing and found this charming gewgaw. Coffee table ornament? “No,” said my mom. “Use it as a little evening clutch.” (It opens up and you can stash a credit card and a lipstick in it.)

This Pierre Cardin coat (the label reads Boutique Pierre Cardin Paris) I bought in D.C. at a Weschler’s auction. I’m not sure when it was made, although Cardin designed coats with pleats early on in his career and then in 1980 with his “computer coat.” It’s not the kind of classic coat I’d wear every day, even though it’s wool and lined. Instead of buttons it has snaps and collar that wraps around your neck. When I wear it I almost always get a compliment or two and a “where did you get that?” question.

I bought this Chanel jacket in 1988 or possibly ‘89. It’s heavy enough that it can be a cool-weather outer jacket. But it worked indoors too over a dress or with black pants. I used to wear it to work and to luncheons. Today I wear it over a plain white T-shirt and jeans. The jacket is well made, wears like iron.

I bought this dress at Chanel in London in 1986 or maybe ‘87. I don’t fit in it anymore, which is just as well: it’s completely unlined, and the buttonholes for the buttons that run all the way down the back were too large and therefore kept slipping open (but of course I had to rely on others to tell me that!). Unlike the red jacket, this dress does not speak well for Chanel’s ready-to-wear. Adding insult to embarrassment, the shanks on the metal buttons on a black Chanel cardigan that I bought in New York in ‘84 or ‘85 were so badly finished (and jagged) that they kept cutting through the thread, making the buttons fall off. The wool itself was quite undistinguished, and I dumped the sweater ages ago.

Dear Readers: Have you saved any items of clothing or accessories from years ago? Do you still wear any of them? Why have you kept them? Please share your stories for an upcoming post.