The one that almost got away

Once upon a time I was flipping through the fashion shoot section of Cosmo mag when I came across this Jack Kerouac-esque model. She was such a badass riding on the back of a motorcycle with some dude wearing leather. She was probably hitchhiking–that’s how badass she was. She looked way too fabulous to actually have ridden on the bike far. Come to think of it, there was a little narrative written down on each page of the shoot, too, which just made the whole thing that much more romantic. Anyway, if she really needed a ride she probably could’ve put the pair of earrings she was wearing on eBay and bought her own damn bike, but none of this mattered to me. The only thing that mattered was the pure unadulterated furry perfection in the form of a jacket adorning her shoulders. 

She wore this aztec print piece of heaven with a super tight, super short dress and biker boots and I had to have it. I’m not sure that I’ve ever been so passionate about an article of clothing up until or since this point in time. It far surpassed any puppy love I may have encountered throughout my adolescence. I carefully tore the page out of the magazine and held it close to my heart for months telling anyone who would listen the tale of the beautiful, unattainable and completely irresistible coat. I knew it was BB Dakota, but it wasn’t available on their website and it was nowhere to be found on the interwebz, so I became more and more fascinated. At one point I found it on the Macy’s website, I think, and it was sold out in my size. Needless to say, I was distraught. Mind you, this was a good three years ago, so I had never experienced actual heartache before. I assumed this was it. I was wrong. But it didn’t stop me from singing “you’re the reason for the tear drops on my guitar” to this coat. That’s how serious it was.

Finally after carrying the page of Cosmo around in my purse for far longer than is socially acceptable, I found the mythical creature on Lulu’s. Did I mention it was far too expensive for an unemployed college student living in Florida where you could never possibly have a need for such a jacket to buy? Well, it was. Luckily my parents are awesome and let me do a little online shopping for my Christmas present early. They still made me wait until Christmas day to open it, but when I did, it was glorious. Which brings me to today. Three years later, in a field over 3,000 miles away from that little Florida town, wearing the jacket I lusted after with a short dress and biker boots, pretending I’m about to jump on the back of a motorcycle.