A Piece of History: Mum’s Vintage Jacket

The last of my London looks is possibly my favorite of all… This beautiful, authentic East Asian jacket is a super old piece from my Mum’s wardrobe (my ultimate treasure chest!) that she bought on a trip to Hong Kong decades ago. Jackets like my Mum’s are popping up on the high street, runways and flea markets. They can be styled in so many ways, and are just as relevant today as they were 30 or 40 years ago. You can wear them with jeans and flats for a chic lunch look, or dressed up over a silk slip dress and mules for happy hour at a swanky bar. I accessorized my look with another hidden treasure I found at home – the velvet headband I used to wear in high school! How good is it rifling through old drawers and closets when you visit home?! You know that I love a versatile piece, but this jacket really is something special because it not only adds sentimental meaning to my look, but it has the most gorgeous embroidery detail that is very on-trend at the moment. I may or may not have snuck this into my suitcase already… Sorry Mum!

This piece is a perfect example of how some of the best items are often those we now call vintage – pieces crafted by hand years ago with careful precision by an expert craftsman. While there are plenty of embellished and Eastern-inspired jackets available in the stores today, to find your own unique and authentic jacket it’s best to scour your local thrift shop and flea market. It’s so worth spending time hunting for your own piece if you can, because a jacket like this is in some ways a piece of history – did you know that the embroidery you see on these kind of jackets stems way back to the embroidered dragon robes of late imperial China? The color and details conveyed the position and rank of those who wore them – so cool to know the background of these pieces! What do you guys think of my look? Tell me in the comments below!

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What I’m Wearing: Mum’s Jacket (similar here and here, Jeans by Citizens of Humanity, Shirt by Amuse Society, Shoes by Alexander Birman, Velvet Headband (similar here)

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