Good evening everybody! I found this jacket in a thrift market, I loved the sparkling blue color and the red dots interior so I bought it. I guess this is vintage but I have no idea of the date. The boxy shape make me thinks of the '60 and the fact that it has no label and looks hand-made reinforces the idea that it could be quite old but, as far as I know, it could be '70 or '80. Not '90, because I do not remember anything like this and I was already around. The external fabric looks like a piquet cotton, while the lining could be rayon (viscose?). Finally, please, note that I bought it in Italy. Could you help me dating it? I hope the pictures are fine. Thank you very much for any hint!
Hi Barbara, thank you very much for your answer. So, I wasn't completely off about the date. I love it as well, though it's a little too big for me..well, I guess it's more the fact that it wears differently from what I am used to.
Lovely! I think Barbara is right with dating. I have quite a few lovely jackets and coats from the 1960s from Italy - they're always a joy to find.
my first impression is also 60s. can't help but think it may have had a matching skirt or dress many years ago. ensembles were SO popular at that time.
Thank you all for your answers and inputs! I bought the jacket at a thrift market in Milan, on the Navigli - the canals -. There used to be a secondhand market and this stand that used to have some very interesting pieces (pre-covid). That's the reason I said it is Italian but yes, I cannot be sure, it could come from another country. However, Spain seems bizarre. Thinking about Italy in the '60s, the economic boom, well, France was considered the highlight of fashion so..maybe some rich woman could go to France and have it made there, but Spain..it sounds odd. We did not have so many imports from other countries back then, I guess, and I do not think from Spain. In Italy, in the '60s many things were still handmade, from a seamstress, or at home. My mother tells me that when she was young in the '60s and '70s she had her clothes made by a seamstress and that she was ashamed of that because - at that time- it was considered more modern and luxurious to buy in stores, mass-production clothes. My grandmother still made lot of clothes for me and my sister till the end of the '80s - and she was good! Still have them. It was not uncommon. Of course the jacket could still be Spanish, I was just trying to explain why I said italian in the title of the thread. I didn't specify it above that I bought it in Italy, I'll do next time to be more precise and help give a little more context. Unfortunately, when I bought it there was no skirt or matching dress in sight. Thanks so much to everybody! ps. I am Italian and presently lives in Italy. I am from a small city near Bologna - that's just to give some context to what I said above.
I think what you are saying makes absolutely sense... Spain was under rule by Franco then, so also closed off to a certain extent, and not a center for fashion. And it makes sense with all the lovely Italian things that I have found (mainly in second hand shops in Vienna). I am in Switzerland by the way .
Hi Karin, nice to virtually meet you. We are not so far apart. and yes, that's precisely what I was thinking about Spain. I am more curious about the fact that you find a lot of Italian second hand in Vienna. I wonder how it ends there. I have recently been to Paris and could find a lot of made in Italy there..really..a lot mainly from the '80s and '90s! I did not expect that. A lot of trousers from Italy, for example, I bought a pair and they have the label of a company from Biella (well, Biella was famous for textile, mainly wool I think). I expected a lot of made in France, but it was not the case. I have seen some probably German labels but I do not know them. I'd say that until the '80s and '90s Italy was probably producing a lot of textile (we had some famous districts, Biella for the wool, Como for the silk, Carpi for any textile, I guess) and exporting, because the cost of labour was cheaper than in other countries of Europe. then, after the fall of communism and with globalisation and other countries joining the EU, it became cheaper to make clothes elsewhere. Ok, sorry for the long post, that's really quite offtopic, so I stop here. Thanks again everybody!
I guess that is the case! Switzerland had a thriving textile industry too once, but most of that has gone as it has become too expensive to produce here. What's left are some companies specialising in special fabrics, and a small bit of textile production in the Ticino, where they also produce for some Italian brands. I have several jackets and coats with labels from small boutiques or tailors, from the 1960s, that I found in Vienna. No idea how they got there. One chain of second hand shops for a while also had a lot of underwear and nightwear that came from Italy, mostly unworn and still with tags attached, so I am guessing that was old stock from a shop that maybe imported things from Italy.
I just don't see 60s or it being made in Italy. French or Spanish, handmade, I don't think Italy has come close accept in a suitcase. And being handmade, Franco's Spain and not being a center for design is a little off mark. It's nice don't get me wrong, just not made in Italy.
Nice jacket! Love the small red dot lining. I'm going to go against the grain and suggest an early to mid '80s date. I, too, saw the '50-60s styling but this piece has the dropped shoulder that came in during the '50s revival and that small dot was big in 1982-83. Also explains why it only has three, big and widely spaced buttons. An earlier style would have had more I think. Lovely jacket, and great modelling.
Thank you all for your replies. Again, I don't know where it comes from, I just know where I bought it. If it comes from another country, I should say I'd opt for France, it just seems so much more likely to me for a variety of historical reasons.
