This fall: Bringin the funk

I hit a few estate sales over the weekend and they were generally pretty dismal. One house however had a whole rack of 70s outerwear down in a basement I'll generously describe as dank.

I don't look at clothing often, and buy it even less, but for some reason I picked through this rack and found a number of leather coats. I thought about a couple of them, passed, then decided to stop back by on Sunday to see if they were still there. They were, and for $2.50 a piece, a pair of them came home with me.

The first is a leather blazer with a western yoke and inset belt in the back, in a kind of tannish bone colored leather. The tag says it came from Mexico, and it was in great shape. The second was a black double breasted car coat with big lapels and a belt. It's similar to the coat I remember my dad wearing, that I can't believe my mother ever got rid of. It was so dirty I had to wipe it down before I could even decide if it was worth having cleaned. As it turns out, other than a broken belt loop and a button missing from one sleeve, it's fine.

Both are at the cleaners now and should be ready in two weeks. Even better, the wet basement smell is nearly gone from my car. When they're back I'll put them on and see if I think I can wear them. If they give a good vintage vibe they're mine. I'm picturing them both with jeans and boots and a black turtleneck. If they're not so hot on me, eBay here they come.

A note for local readers: Arrow fabric care at 39th and Troost may be the friendliest dry cleaners I've ever encountered. They also took the time to explain what the leather cleaning process would address (color is restored, waterproofing is included). They were worried about the buttons on the car coat (leather, in rough shape) even after I told them I planned to replace them with something metal if I kept it for myself. Leather and suede cleaning is on sale through the end of the month, and you get another 10% off if you pay in full up front.

When these come back I'll post photos.