Category: Fashion

My Vintage Coach Bag Spiral

I recently fell into a vintage Coach bag spiral. I’m not typically a big ‘designer brand name’ kind of girl, however I had admired another online friend’s vintage Coach bag collection for a while. In the summer, I like to use cross-body bags so I can be hands-free and also not lug around a huge shoulder bag full of stuff on hot and sticky days. I have a couple in rotation from Rough + Tumble, but I wanted something a little more classic looking. I especially like the turn-key closure on the vintage Coach bags… so that was my jumping off point.

Anyways, I’ve had vintage leather Coach bags on my thrifting list for awhile and kept coming up empty. Which brings me to my spiral – as I started checking Poshmark, narrowing down the styles I liked best and further narrowing it down based on resale pricing.

And now I’m the owner of two beautiful vintage Coach bags…

Bag #1: The Watson

Okay, I went into it wanting a brown bag, but this little black beauty was exactly what I was looking for. The Watson bag was a style introduced in 1989, which feel kind of weird that I’m older than a ‘vintage’ Coach bag. I guess I am also vintage at this point.

I really like that it is unlined and just has a really nice, thick leather throughout the bag. It was in fantastic condition — it looks like there are a couple scratches on the photo above, but in person it looks unscratched. I feel like this will be a perfect ‘everyday’ bag for summer time and the price was less than $100, so I won’t feel guilty using the heck out of it and not treating it too gently.

Bag #2: The Legacy Mini Saddle Bag

This one also caught my eye, but I was afraid it might be a little too small. It’s the Legacy Mini Saddle Bag, which was a style that was introduced in 1973. It’s a little smaller than the Watson, but I loved the color and the little buckles on the straps. The price was also excellent on this one – while lots of sellers have it listed for well over $100, I ended up getting this one for just $40. Score! As it turns out, the size is actually great and it fits my iphone as well as a small slider wallet, chapstick and keys.

All in all, I’m pretty darn happy with my vintage Coach finds. Secondhand AND vintage? Yes, please!

DIY: Linen Skirt Makeover

I had a whole pile of items sitting around my sewing machine waiting to be hemmed, dyed or fixed in some way. Before our trip, I gave myself the goal of trying to get through the pile… and one of the items was this Target linen skirt:

I bought it in 2022 because I liked the cinched waistband, the pockets and the lightweight linen fabric. However, I’m not really a *light colored* skirt kind of girl, so it wasn’t getting worn very often.

See, it’s cute but just kind of ‘meh’ and frankly I have better skirts to wear. The light fabric also meant I had to be careful about my underroos situation — as darker bottoms would show through. Also, I didn’t love the maxi length.

I added it to my ‘fix it or donate it’ pile and just kind of ignored it for a while. However, my first thought was that I should shorten it to knee-length so I would wear it more often. So chop-chop-chop, I went ahead and cut off the bottom and hemmed it back up.

Back into the ‘hmmm’ pile it went. And then, I decided to dye it! I ordered the Dark Green Rit Dye off Amazon and added it to a dye bath for about 40 minutes.

Then, I washed in on cold with a load of towels and stuck it in the dryer for about 20 minutes before letting it hang dry the rest of the way.

I really love the shade of green that I was able to get, as well as the fact that the grid pattern still shows through!

And OHMYGOSH, it goes so much better with my wardrobe now. Just the little change of chopping off some inches and dying it green turned this skirt into one I was ready to donate into one that I absolutely can’t wait to wear!

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My Style: March 2024

This month I gave myself the task of getting through the rest of my ‘winter-ish’ clothing while the weather was still chilly. In my experience, once we hit spring break, I’m mentally ready to pack away my heavy winter shirts and dresses and move on to brighter and lighter choices (even if the weather hasn’t quite caught up yet). So, this month I pulled out the items that I ignored for the last few months to make some ‘stay or go’ decisions.

Left: First up, this pattered Modcloth skirt I bought a few years ago. I love the pattern, the swish, the length and the pockets. However, the fabric is kind of slippery/cheap feeling. I paired it with a secondhand Kate Spade cardigan that was also on the chopping block. Verdict: They both stay.

Right: I’ve had this secondhand Anthropologie tank top for years and it’s starting to look a little dingy. However, I still like the pattern when paired with my linen skirt and secondhand cardigan. Verdict: Stay, for now.

Left: I bought this dress last year, but never ripped the tags off because it just felt like A LOT of pattern. I finally decided it was ‘wear it or sell it’ time, topped it with a belt and wore it to work for the day. Verdict: Stay.

Right: Another fully secondhand outfit and this H&M x Morris & Co collaboration skirt was on the chopping block. I love the length, pattern and striped waistband. However, it is a *little* tight in the waist. Verdict: Stay, but if it’s still tight next year I need to pass it on.

Left: This was actually my third outfit I tried on that morning, because two dresses I was considering ended up in the ‘donate’ pile before I even left the house. Verdict: Donated 2 dresses, but kept this one.

Right: I’ve had this dress for 5+ years — I thrifted it, wore it a few times, cut the sleeves off, and then wore it again. It’s okay. It’s just not a winner for me and by the end of the day I was eager to tear it off and throw in in the donate pile. Verdict: Donate.

New vs. Secondhand Talley

This month, I count 7 items that I purchased retail and 11 items I purchased secondhand!