Lesson Learned

This is a cautionary tale about a know-it-all young man, an incredible thrift store find and the dangers of ignoring garment labels.

At the West 10th Street Housing Works Thrift Shop here in Manhattan, I was lucky enough to find a vintage 80's women's Hermes mackintosh coat. As you know, macks are waterproofed canvas, coated with all sorts of stuff to make the cotton waterproof but still lightweight.

The mack was beautiful. My use of the past tense is foreshadowing to how this tragic tale ends.

The reason the mack was untouched at the shop was that it was in less than clean shape and had the unmistakeable smell of cat pee. It wasn't actually cat pee, it was just a nasty odor from years of storage and the decay of the waterproofing. 

After being rejected by the dry cleaner who rinses out Martha Stewart's knickers, I decided I had no choice but to take matters in my own hands if I was ever to model my designer find. What use is an Hermes mack if you can't saunter down Fifth Avenue (or Christopher Street) in it, the brass buttons like giant flashing lights that shine on your fabulousness?

DO NOT DRY CLEAN! DO NOT MACHINE WASH! Despite these warnings from the much smarter Scots who made the jacket (most macks are made in Scotland), I threw it in the wash, on cold gentle with ample soap. 30 minutes later, I expected a clean, odor-free mack that would no longer be waterproof, but now wearable. What I got instead was a bundle of rags decorated with buttons. The fabric had completely disintegrated and the mack was ruined.

Industrious to the end, I snipped the buttons off and tore out the logo-printed liner for future fashion-craft use. Maybe a fab tooth fairy pillow? If you're interested in the buttons, go to eBay. Gotta make that money back somehow!