Wedding Jackets

Twenty-one years ago this evening I married Mr. C. 

It was the simplest of weddings at the stone chapel of the university where we were both working on our PhDs--no flowers, no attendants, no guest list--just as I wanted.

And definitely no proper wedding dress.  That just isn't me (I didn't even look for a bridal shop), though I did want a new dress. 

The one I loved, which was also the only one I liked, was a navy Chanel dress with a fitted bodice, Norma Kamali-style retro-wide straps via Paris chic, double-breasted gold CC buttons and a short pouf skirt.

It was not unlike the dress on the left (weeps):

It was bloody awesome, but as I had neither plastic nor parents, nor any possibility of raising the funds as a graduate student away from her home country, the dress remained on the rail.  And I redirected my shopping focus into my closet.

For my wedding I wore a black fitted chauffeur's jacket by WilliWear, designed by Willi Smith, black stockings, and black heels.  I must have bought it, in Canada, during Fall 1986. 

This is Willi:

Here's an excerpt from a review of that collection in the Pittsburgh Press, by Mariann Caprino.

It was called Totally Serious, and I must have been too, twenty-one years ago, with a healthy dose of humour on the side, because here we are.  And the jacket is still in my closet too.