outerwear: a removable home

Jackets, hoodies, coats, parkas and so on, function as modern day armor. They shield us from the weather, provide comfort, and in some case even enhance survival. This blog intends to give a spotlight to our removable home that at sometimes get thrown over a puddle as an act of chivalry.

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Venturing into the fictional world: Coraline's bright yellow raincoat sticks out like a sore thumb in the diluted colors of her monotonous life.

Raincoats are rarely fashionable but the yellow being so obnoxiously yellow, turns it into a statement piece that the viewer can follow along as she roams around the muddy grounds.

The raincoat runs its course as she crawls into The Other World, as if there would be such a need for an electric yellow in a world of eye-catching wonders. Ever since the first time I watched Coraline the blue and yellow combo has belonged to her.

Image Credits: Coraline (2009) directed by Henry Selick

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I'm a big believer that things will find you at the right time. I had been searching for a green cardigan similar to the one Kurt Cobain famously wore on the MTV Unplugged in New York since I had first watched it circa 2016.

Flash forward to when I had visited New York for the second time in 2025: my mom spots this replica at a booth in the Chelsea Flea. It doesn't fit as baggy or slouchy as his does but I couldn't ask for better. I walked away $25 poorer but with a big grin on my face as I tightly gripped my new green Italian cashmere J. Crew cardigan.

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This blue Reebok jacket has history. Over 25 years have passed so it feels safe to tell her story. My dad's friend stole her off a rack in a discount store when they all lived in Japan.

It wasn't until July of 2018 that I met her.

With living in Miami, there is absolutely no need for a winter jacket as such and to my surprise that I won't have to spend a pretty penny on one for a short trip, my dad's pulled her out from his dusty treasure chest of a suit case. She has stood the test of time and eventually landed in my hands when we went on a family trip to the mountains in Huaraz, Peru.

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Above is the black California hoodie I got from Ross that I wore my entire middle school career from seventh to eighth grade. It was three times my size and I used to like to think that it kept me in incognito. Although that wasn't the case, it did help me hide from the body dysmorphia that angsty teenage me was trying to deal with.

There was one time that my house almost caught on fire and as a result the entirety of the house filled with smoke. We are a non-smoker household but everything reeked of cigarettes. I refused to not not wear the hoodie to school so I attended as a walking truth cigarette campaign.

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This coat stopped me in my tracks at the Chelsea Flea market when I went to New York over the summer. The vendor informed me that these were one of a kind pieces from the By Walid brand located in the United Kingdom.It’s a coat I can see the Mad Hatter sporting at the next tea party function, something he’d have made out of all the fabric he’s encountered during his Wonderland strolls.The patch work, stitching, vibrant colors are all what makes this an unforgettable coat that one yearns to afford. My favorite section has to be the right sleeve. The red thread weaving over the almost-metallic brown patch caught my eye.