I have zero desire to get dressed up...so here I am, in pjs, no makeup, CW is asleep, posting on something extremely unimportant. ;) Oh, well, I guess we all get to take a break sometime!
This is a J. Crew Collection item called the "Pippa" jacket. I love the name Pippa, it reminds me of a girl who would be so much fun to hang out with, she would have curly red hair, and she could drink every single guy under the table even though she is only 5'3" and 110 pounds. So how does J. Crew immortalize her name? With this atrocity (my apologies if you own this jacket).
It sold originally for $1800 and is made of calf-hair. Some poor calf lost its life to create this jacket. Wow.
One thing that bothers me more than anything about this article of clothing...it looks nothing like J. Crew or J. Crew collection. It has the air of a couture Italian piece, but who in the United States and Canada (main purchasers of J. Crew) is going to buy this jacket? The people who shop at J. Crew are not avant-garde to this extent. It is one thing to create a sublime overcoat in a shimmery-grey fabric (the luscious stormy tweed Lille--which I own) and ask people to buy it for hundreds of dollars (which I did not--scored on sale for a fraction of its original cost) for it, but it is another to think the people who shop at J. Crew (even those willing to spend more on the Collection) are going to get something that looks NOTHING like the rest of what of your other clothing looks like. ABSURDITY!
The model sure is trying her best to look pretty in it, but while her face is amazing, the jacket (even on miss skinny) looks ill-fitting through the shoulders and the calf-hair looks shiny...which disturbs me (I am not sure why). Plus styling this with an orange turtleneck and a green skirt is like saying..."hey, you there, yes, you, in IRELAND...here are your colors, do you want to buy this?" I think that this could have been saved (maybe, big MAYBE) if the jacket fit, if the colors used with this were more muted (that jacket cannot compete with other things), then I could possibly see spending (wait for it)...$500. That's it.
The whole reason I posted this is because this was back on the website last weekend (2/21 and 2/22) and they were attempting to sell it at the bargain rate of $1300. Guess what? Still for sale, in a size 4. Here you go (if you want to see for yourself): http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WomenBrowse/Women_Shop_By_Category/jacketsouterwear/jacketsouterwear/PRDOVR~86099/86099.jsp
By the way, the LA Times mentioned this coat in their post on their blog. Seems they agree with my sentiments. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2008/03/when-did-jcrew.html
