(re-post)
I've wondered what an Armani coat would look like and found out, more importantly, what it feels like, when I came across one at a garage sale 'dig'.
It isn't my size or style and I thought I was a catalyst and would donate it back somewhere to be discovered by someone whose size and style it is; but I had hung it on the hallway door and every time I passed by would brush hand against it. Now I am thinking it is meant to stay with me. And be repurposed into something that will make use of the texture and softness of the fabric but more as a home garment.
I have an affinity to and affection for lovely material. This is, I believe, an Italian wool. It has presence. (Yes, it is wool. I just washed it and the scent of wool became evident.)
I know this long vest is Italian wool because I bought the material, also at a garage sale, a few years ago from a woman who had purchased it thirty years previously in Italy with the intention of having it made into something. But never did.
I loved the shibori aspect of it, the drape, the flow, and I retained and honoured these characteristics with the least intervention – two slits, two seams, the edges joined simply without much fuss.
This material is also wool, or at least I think it is. It was acquired many years ago at a thrift store and for a long time I carried a piece of it in my purse and asked anyone I came across who I thought might know if he or she could identify it, or give an opinion. I turned it into the large base/medium arm prong design with beetle wing front and it is light and water resistant but the cloth has no feel of being treated; it is also surprisingly warm for its weight. And sheds the wind. And reminds me of my favourite colour and tree jewel – amber.
But back to the Armani. I have been thinking on what to do with it. I want to keep its integrity and not cut into it. Simply draping it across a chair and using it as a cosy throw was considered. But it seems it would always then look like a coat thrown across a chair …. Seems it wants to be taken more seriously.
Next I thought of the cashmere sweaters that are waiting to become a chair but I have decided that is likely not going to happen soonest as I have not been able to discover a flexible medium that would let me sculpt them into a chair form and give structure and stability but hold their – well, cashmere sweater'ness.
So maybe I will spread out the coat and the sweaters and see if they would complement each other and then join them together somehow. The coat is heavier, being lined, of course. Maybe the challenge is to somehow terrace the two. Or take out the lining. Hmmm.
Update: dawn on the deck; cut out the lining; coat still wet from being washed; yes! evolving.