Roses are red...

I am being followed by a jacket. A red, rosette-covered jacket, to be specific. I have seen this jacket four times now and each time I'm so overwhelmed by its sudden appearance, I take no notice to the person actually wearing the jacket. I have no idea if there are 4 different women who own the same jacket or if it's being worn by the same person each time. I've searched the internet high and low, and having not been able to find it, I'm guessing it's a one-off, possibly vintage.

This is a statement jacket. It's fitted, it's cropped, it has some serious shoulders, not to mention the entire thing is covered in rosettes, front and back! What's more this is not a jacket that will look good on just anybody. The cropped length of the jacket's body combined with its peaked shoulders makes it an extremely tricky garment for shorter women to pull off; however, don't go thinking that simply being tall will make it a great addition to your own wardrobe. I'm just over 5'8" and I would never attempt this! For starters, nothing cropped has ever looked good on my body and secondly, my shoulders are too wide.

I want to say I like this jacket. Conceptually, I think its amazing! Someone put a lot of work into this piece. I'm guessing each rosette is hand appliquéd. The jacket is a stand alone item and it needs to be worn in a clean and unfussy way. I've seen it with a black, high-waisted paper bag skirt...terrible! Black was good choice of color, but the paper bag skirt was entirely too much volume for one outfit; the woman looked like she was trying way to hard to to make the jacket work for her. Another time, the jacket showed up with a long olive drab t-shirt with a shirt tail hem. She had also donned a pair of equally drab skinny cargo pants. Errrr. I have no idea where to even start with this one.

With a item like this, the jacket wears the woman and not the other way around. The pieces paired with the jacket need to be kept simple and streamlined. I'd start with a pair of skinny gray jeans and an easy white silk tank. To top it all off, a pair of black peep-toe booties would do the trick. Easy breezy.

But for me, the jury is still out. I'm completely on the fence with this one. What do you think of the jacket? How would you wear it? Let me know!