'90s flashback: The Sleeveless Button-down

I am not sure how I feel about this. I remember when this shirt was the core of my summer wardrobe. It feels so....dated and not in a great way. I do respect that this girl looks very cute in her Madewell sleeveless chambray tee. I am just not sure I can do this again.

And I did try it out. Steven Alan finally (FINALLY) opened a store in Portland and of course I was there opening day to check it out. I instantly gravitated toward a cobalt blue silk top that I honestly did not realize was a sleeveless button-down till it stared back at me in the fitting room mirror. I took it off pretty quickly right after. (Similar shirt, pictured below).

I also quite acutely remember the pit stains that can appear on this type of shirt on a hot summer day. Now that's a negative memory, if ever there was one.  I do believe this shirt "back in the day" existed almost exclusively in white in a breezy, cotton lawn fabric. I think I have to keep mulling this over.  Portland is hip, but I think I might feel a little bit too old to being going back in time...I don't know.  Might have to wait and find out what Kim France thinks.

PS - update on Sweden trip and shopping to come shortly.

Vintage Coach bags

Lately I have been up at all hours trolling ebay for vintage Coach bags, some the same ones I used to covet as a pre-teen. I still remember pouring over the Coach catalog and wondering: why does every style come in British tan? Well, now is the time for them again apparently. I've seen them around on some hipsters but didn't think it was a for-everyone kind of look. Now it seems less vintage hipster and just plain hip '90s throwback. Not to mention the Made-in-the-USA construction and the matte finish leather.

So how funny that A Cup of Jo (one of my favorite blogs, by the way, and a friend of a friend) ran a feature today on how to style a winter hat where the girl is walking around NYC with a tiny vintage Coach bag in none other than British Tan.

It's a sign that I must have one of these in my life! Or at the very least, go through my mother's closet to find the old ones I know she has stashed in there. (Thanks for being a packrat, Mom!)

the binocular bag

the lunchbox bag