Borrowed From the Boys

I've been sorting through tubs of vintage clothes, separating the keeps from the sells, the donates from the cut-into-rags. I know for sure that there were more amazing items from my teen years, but I'm pretty sure that my parents threw those out long ago. One treasure I recently unearthed was this big ol' brown cardigan:

There you are, old friend!

I was pretty excited to find it, as it was a staple of my wardrobe as we rolled into the 90's. For whatever reason, by the time I turned 13, I had developed a penchant for menswear. Let me be specific: old man menswear. Inspired by the style of the bands I loved, mostly male, I scoured the thrift stores for cool t-shirts, big cardigans and tweed pants.

Man, I loved Sassy. This is precisely the look I was going for. Kurt, not Courtney. I blame my parents for dressing me like a boy when I was little, and for sending me to ballet in a kilt.

Inevitably, the pants I picked out would drown my lanky frame, and I would end up pinning the hems, belting the pants tightly in place, and pairing with a small polo shirt or a short-sleeved plaid button down. The perfect cover up for this ensemble? An oversized cardigan. I had many. I remember one in particular, a dark brown and yellow Nordic knit, with a metal zipper up the front. I wore that one constantly when I was in 8th grade. With my old man pants and my Doc Marten ankle boots, I felt such a part of the music culture that dominated my life.

They always seemed so short to me, I wanted tall ones so badly. Not until a couple of years later did I score a second-hand pair of oxblood 20 hole Docs at an army surplus store. I died them black. Of course I did.

Thankfully, this phase didn't last long. One learns quickly that teenage boys aren't really into girls who dress like old men. I embraced the babydoll dresses, fishnets and garish makeup of my rock n' roll idols, but I still cuddled up in my oversized cardigans. Almost twenty years later (cripes!), I still like to borrow from the boys once in awhile. Of course, no more outifts that look like I wear my Dad's hand-me-downs. Menswear-inspired is more like it. I love pairing really feminine pieces with something boyish.

I own this gorgeous Vanessa Bruno Athé dress. Very feminine, and fun to pair with unisex or menswear inspired pieces. The A.P.C. Madras cardigan in the top left would be the perfect, well-fitting replacement for the beloved vintage cardigan of my youth. Acqua di Parma Colonia is one of my all-time favorite scents. I love anything that smells like a handsome man.