Before you read this post, set the mood with this song from The Summer Set.
Ready? Ok.
Let’s rewind about 14 years (ew.) I was a sophomore in high school and I had gone through a bizarre transformation over the summer that included studded belts, checkered Vans, and an entire rainbow of Roxy tank tops.
I was shopping a lot at Hot Topic and that’s where I started collecting patches. Carebears, Strawberry Shortcake, etc. I found a cheap denim jacket at (I think) Target and had our lovely local drycleaner/ seamstress sew them on. In the middle of the jacket was a patch that said “Shortie”. This jacket was all me and I got stopped a lot asking where it came from- mostly by hipsters (before that was a thing) and more alternative artsy folks.
I wore this jacket pretty much with everything. I misplaced it once in school and during our daily morning meeting, when and administrator made the announcement that a jacket with a “Shortie” patch was lost (we weren’t allowed to make our own such announcements after one very upset lacrosse player threatened physical action if he didn’t get his stick back) I heard murmurs of my own name around McDonald Hall and someone came up to me after and told me where I had left it. Everyone knew it was mine.
In college, I remained attached to my jacket. I tried to wear it over a cocktail dress in Atlantic City but was told by my girl friends that they would absolutely not let me do that. I wore it over my sorority letters to recruitment events and with sundresses and cowgirl boots when I was playing up to my somehow southern belle reputation.
“Over sundresses” has been and will always be my favorite way to wear a denim jacket. I was wearing the OG with my Easter dress my first Easter with Kendall when it finally just disintegrated. It had a good run. It was time for a new one.
It’s taken me over 2 years to collect new patches, but the coolest part of my new jacket is the embroidery of my blog name across the back from Daily Disco. Abbey was a joy to work with and together we came up with the perfect size, font, and color for my jacket. She even threw in “Caro” on the front for me in Barbie pink. It’s amazing what some personalization can do to an old oversized denim jacket from Hollister, I’ll tell ya.
The patches are all things that make me happy. The last two were a set of Reptars from Kendall this summer, but I have seriously been collecting for a couple of years. I highly suggest both Etsy + Amazon as, at least in this area, Hot Topics are hard to come by these days. I’ll link what I can below, but you should also check out my flair list on Amazon. A lot of the Etsy shops where I got my patches are closed now.
A funky denim jacket is def. part of my signature look. If you could claim one piece that’s yours, what would it be?
My Jacket Flair:
Retro Heart Sunglasses||Cute Lion Patch||Trolls Poppy Patch||Sandylion Rugrats Reptar Embroidered Sticker Patch||Pink Lambo Pin||It’s cookie time Troop Beverly Hills pin||you remind me of the babe labyrinth pin
Outfit:
Similar Mules||Ralph Lauren Jeans||Similar Top
Check out what I'm loving right now on Amazon!
