Red, Ruffles and a Kenzo Jungle Flashback

It's Monday, but it's a short week for me, going into a long weekend. So not bad for a Monday! 

I read that designer Kenzo Takada aka KENZO died in Paris on the weekend of complications from COVID. Link here for an obituary (link 'cause I love, of course). My floral jacket here is a piece of Kenzo, a small tribute.

• Jacket - Kenzo Jungle, vintage 90s, thrifted; last worn here in April 2019 with dots for tea with my Winesday Women
• Top - Tatum & Olivia, consignment; first worn here briefly with pink in September for scouting the Castle
• Trousers - Zara, thrifted; last seen here in August with my scribble jacket
• Shoes - Sol Sana; last worn here in July with blue, black and white

We had fog in the morning today - spooky! 

There should be a castle there! Where is it?

Despite the fog, it ended up being sunny and warm by the afternoon. 

Only a few more days of my spring/summer items, but I'm still squeezing in this not-yet-worn jacket. We'll be doing a little Flashback on it at the end. 

I thought it would look good with these high-waisted linen-blend trousers, and I was right. 

I love this bright red. 

Masked up. 

A nice red and white one from Mom. 

Instead of outerwear, I sucked in everything and buttoned two of the jacket's shell buttons.

I wrapped my blue leopard scarf around my neck, and slipped on a thin pair of orange leather gloves. 

• Scarf - thrifted
• Gloves - consignment

The stuff: 

And squeaking in one last wearing of these awesomely comfy shoes. 

• Silver/gold cuff - JPL, vintage fair
• Earrings - Tania Gleave, Vancouver
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes

Flashback: Kenzo Jungle Floral Jacket

When I heard that Kenzo died this past weekend, I knew I had to wear this jacket to honour him. I found it at Flavour Upstairs here in July 2017 for $29.99. It's a linen blend, and the beautiful floral is fully edged on the hems, cuffs and collar with black rick-rack. 

Kenzo Jungle was his juniors line, and based on the label (link here, thank you, Vintage Fashion Guild!), the prominent shoulder pads, and the fact that it was made in France, I am guessing this jacket is from the early 90s. Kenzo sold his label to the LVMH conglomerate in 1993, which means this jacket may have actually been designed by him. Despite extensive searching online, I have not found anything in this same fabric, but similarly shaped floral jackets are variously listed as 80s and 90s (there's a nice vague 20-year window!) and are listed in the $400-$1,100 range on curated vintage re-sell sites. So I think I got a bargain!

I wore it right away July 2017, pairing it with my vintage Pierre Cardin silk skirt. 

I noted at the time how classy it was that both my main garments were made in France. 

I wore it to work followed by the Vintage Expo in late September/early October 2017 - here it is all buttoned up, and I'm geared up for meeting with Cat, Yvonne and Karen to browse the antique and vintage booths.

I left the hat off for work. 

Some spectacular pattern-mixing here in August 2018. 

That's the first wearing of my red Fluevog Pilgrims shoes. I wore the jacket buttoned all day, for FASHION. 

And here is the last time I wore it, in April 2019, repeating the white sweater and dotty skirt from the first outfit. 

This was for our Winesday Women Spring Tea at the Abkhazi Gardens, a wonderful outing. 

Mathy stuff: Today's outfit marks the 5th time I've worn this lovely jacket, bringing the cost-per-wear to $6.00. I thought I had worn it more frequently, but it seems to have slipped into the "for special" category in my brain, and I've only been wearing it once a year.