{ Hotel Lautner | Desert Hot Springs, CA }
Vintage coat (similar); Vintage heels (similar); glam | camp necklace
My thing for swing coats dates back to fall of the year I first started blogging: I bought a black-and-white, retro-style coat from Forever 21 and posted a photo in it, and it was the first time anyone asked me “where did you GET that?!” (on the Internet, anyway). It was a really good coat, especially given that it was something like thirty bucks; I wore it for years and years until I finally had to admit that the shape had become a little less “swing” and a little more “sack,” and sent it off to its future owner via a yard sale.
While I’m always a fan of thirty-dollar anythings, I do have to admit that when it comes to coats laying out a little more cash for a piece you absolutely love is generally worth it – because a well-made coat can literally last a lifetime. The piece pictured here actually belonged to Francesca’s grandmother – I just borrowed it for the evening, since it gets chilly in the desert at night and the extent of the warm clothing I brought was our Adulting sweatshirt, which I adore but didn’t quite go with those burgundy velvet heels (borrowed from Brie; we did a lot of clothes-swapping on this trip). Despite the fact that the coat is well over half a century old, it’s in practically perfect shape – because whoever made it in the first place knew what they were doing.
Below, some spring-perfect swing coats worth a little investment (but most are closer to Forever 21 than Saks in terms of price, don’t worry). (For some reason I can’t include it in the widget, but this one is my absolute favorite, and very well-priced.)
