End of Winter Celebration
Red wool, cashmere and rabbit fur trim cape, bought comparatively expensively for $300 from a vintage boutique in Melbourne to celebrate winning a new client.Today is officially the last day of winter – hurrah, hurrah! It was in fact gloriously sunny enough to be the first day of spring, and I certainly did not need a coat to go outside today. In truth, we Melburnians know we won’t be shedding the woollen coats just yet, but the promise of spring makes a huge impact on one’s joie de vivre.
I have said before that I have many coats, and a while back when I was culling a few because they were worn out, I decided I had to photograph the entire collection for posterity. It took me a whole day, and even then I forgot a couple, and I have since added a couple more. But I was shocked to learn the total: more than 60! Even I find it hard to believe I have space to store them all.
Camel wool coat – a holy grail find in an op shop that set me back $30.Nearly every single one is second hand, I am proud to say. One is a genuine antique from 1850, and the next oldest is from the 1930s. A few more (including ones I forgot to photograph) are from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s and then quite an armload of them are from the 1970s.
I do try to wear as many of them as I can, but some of course are only for special occasions, such as the 1850s striped velvet skating coat – I don’t wear that when know I am going to indulge in risk-taking behaviour such as drinking red wine, or consuming melting ice creams in the dark.
This navy cashmere French-made coat was bizarrely inexpensively priced at $12 in a Melbourne op shop (I think the staff member was suffering from concussion when they priced this) – and then I found $2 in one of the very deep pockets!This last Melbourne winter has been so cold that I mainly wore only the big guns: my longest wool and cashmere coats, along with a few short ones that I broke out when I was going out and about only during mild days. I have a couple of long leather trench coats, but I didn’t feel they were warm enough for days under 10°C – it does not get cold enough in the city to actually snow, but those Antarctic winds sure do blow!
Many of these capes, coats, and jackets were purchased in Melbourne op shops (thrift stores) and a handful of vintage boutiques, but a few I bought online from mostly America.
Vintage 60s pure wool short jacket, found in an op shop for $6! This has such a great shape, and I love the bracelet-length sleeves.
I really love tweed, and was pleased to find this wool jacket for around $10 in a small op shop on the fringes of Melbourne, when one of my sisters took me on a tour of all the op shops in her area. It is missing its belt, but I have found quite a few stand-ins. 
I had always wanted a baseball jacket, and what better than a vintage 50s one? This wool Dodgers jacket does up with buttons, not a zip. I bought this at a Unique Vintage warehouse sale for about $45. These six coats and jackets I have showcased here are the ones I have worn most often this winter, but there are other ones I adore, such as the 70s Dr Zhivago suede and fur coat, the leather of which has become quite fragile in parts. I am a bit scared to wear it for fear of irreparable tears forming. I have already repaired some of them myself.
As the weather becomes a little less icy, I hope to start taking a few more lighter-weight coats on outings. Meanwhile, the first week of spring is due to return to winter weather, although Melbourne is honouring the occasion with some sunshine forecast for tomorrow.
You can see the entire collection in my new autumn/winter gallery, in A Glory of Coats.
Photos: January 2017