My first ever 'expensive' purchase was a corduroy jacket from Just Jeans (I have never claimed to be cool). I was 11, bought it for mufti day and absolutely adored it. I remember it made me feel like a celebrity. I’m not sure why, because corduroy always tends to bring up connotations of musty old university professors from the 1970s. Although as I write that I realise that I’m not actually as disgusted by it as I thought I would be: I love all things sartorially nerdy and preppy, so perhaps my corduroy jacket is where that love first began.
Anyway, I hadn’t even thought about my jacket until I saw this American Apparel one, and all of a sudden those same ‘must-have-now’ feelings came rushing back. Then I saw the new A.P.C. range, which features a cute lemon coloured corduroy skirt. And then came the new and amazing Marc by Marc Jacobs collection, with corduroy shorts and a corduroy coat (which admittedly is too fugly even for me). Jacobs has done corduroy in previous ranges, notably his corduroy pant suits a few seasons ago. It clearly appeals to his penchant for 1970s nerdiness. Then I was bored at work so decided to google corduroy - and I found Corduroy Magazine, a cute magazine "based on the idea that a corduroy jacket never goes out of style. In the same way, we profile actors, musicians, designers and fine artists who aren’t looking to follow mainstream trends, but rather focused on creating something classic". I like that.
I still fit my corduroy jacket from 1995. Maybe it’s time to bring it out from the back of the closet? Or maybe, like scrunchies, corduroy should just stay in the 90s...
