I’m never ready for summer to end, but fall is definitely in the air! One thing that always makes the seasonal transition easier to bear is looking forward to wearing some of my fall and winter favourites that have been in storage for the past few months. Having something new (or new to me) to wear also adds excitement. After all, I’m sure we all remember the feeling of having something new to wear on the first day of school and, since I spent my entire career in the classroom, I had a lot of those first days!

Today I’m going to share a new for fall item that has been hanging in my closet since an early summer trip to a thrift store with my daughter. I haven’t actually worn it anywhere yet, but with the weather changing, I pulled it out earlier this week and started shopping my closet for ways to wear it.

If you’re old enough, you probably remember the tapestry vests and jackets that were popular back in the 90s. I had a couple of the vests and now that I see vests coming back into vogue, I kind of wish that I’d kept them, but I never had a tapestry jacket.

Who cares that I’m 30 years late to the party; I love it and I’m very much looking forward to wearing it this fall! Clothing and accessories are considered vintage once they’re at least 20 years old, and in 2023 it seems that vintage fashion is gaining in popularity everywhere. Vintage is a great way to express individuality and it’s so much better for the planet than buying new. Cost can vary a lot. Prices for jackets similar to mine range from $30 CAD to over $160 on Etsy. I was fortunate to find mine in a second-hand store for $14.50. 

The key to wearing vintage and not looking like you’re wearing a costume is to add one vintage piece to an otherwise contemporary outfit as I’ve done in today’s photos. Another idea is to look for vintage pieces in classic styles. My vintage jacket in a different fabric would fit right in with today’s looks.

So, how did I put today’s looks together. Since the jacket is a multi-coloured, stand-out piece, I paired it with basic solid-colour pieces. In the first photo above, I’m wearing it with a navy Uniqlo t-shirt and dark olive chino’s from Mark’s. Both pieces are several years old. Immediately above, I’ve switched out the chinos for a favourite pair of dark wash jeans from Old Navy, also several years old. Below, I’m wearing the same jeans with an olive green top that I bought second-hand about a year ago. 

There are many shades of pink, rust, green, brown, beige, peach, grey, and even a few bits of blue in the tapestry, so it would be easy to wear this jacket with many other colours. I can also give it a modern twist by rolling the sleeves.