Fashion Recycling: Take Your Old Coats & Recycle/Remodel Them via Yes, Virginia!

I know a lot of you on the east coast and the midwest and even in the northwest have fur coats or at least some kind of leather or sheepskin coats in your closet. I was recently on the phone with Virginia Lato of www.YesVirgina.ca and we were talking about the current situation with winter on the horizon and how to deal with what you have in the closet in terms of coats. PETA aside, fur is still a trend-worthy fabrication and people even do faux fur if they can’t afford the real thing. However with vintage furs — from grandparents, parents or vintage shops– sitting in closets or stores, one could retool/remodel the vintage into a current style and color that works for you. Yes Virginia says absolute YES!!– and she has the ability to do it for less than most companies who would rework a vintage fur.

Here’s what you might find hanging in a closet: coats that are so truly out of date– that the coat almost swallows you up stylistically. Here’s what Virginia recently sent out in a newsletter:

In Argentina, they refer to old fur coats as “gatos muertos”. I’ll let you google that one:)
http://www.spanishdict.com/
Don’t be caught wearing YOUR gato muerto! Let’s remake it now!!

I am leaving for Argentina on July 20 loaded with old coats, only to have them reappear as divine new creations! Most all can be remade for under $1000.

Do you have something that looks like this?

or this?

These coats can be transformed into something more fashion forward like these coats below:


Blue Nutria (but any fur coat can be made to look like this)


Red Nutria (again this can be achieved as well)


The long black belted coat is fur turned to the inside, painted black on the other side- very cool!


Mink strips jacket: mink can be cut into small strips and either sewn with small strips of leather or woven.

So many options for your gato muerto!!!

So if you have an old coat that you would like to have “remodeled”, then you might want to contact Virginia at yesvirginia.ca ASAP because she is leaving for Argentina on July 20 loaded with old coats, only to have them reappear as divine new creations!
You can contact her through her website or call her (416-964-5877) and talk to her about what you want to have done. This is at least a way of not wasting a coat that already exists. It’s sustainable and actually eco-friendly because it’s recycling and repurposing something that might just be given away.

Thank you to Virginia Lato for all the photos!!

Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com

Buy $50 in Darphin products at Beauty.com and get a free Darphin Stimulskin Plus Serum ($40 value!). While supplies last.

Pay only $4.95 Shipping on all orders over $50. Sign up and shop at Beyond the Rack now! Offer ends June 4th at 10:59am EST

Buy $40 of Frederic Fekkai products at Beauty.com and receive a free travel sized Brilliant Glossing Shampoo ($9 value!).

Save 10% off + Free Shipping on any order! Use code AFALL10FS. Hurry, offer ends 10.24.11

Subscribe to RSS headline updates from:
Powered by FeedBurner

If you are going to feature content from LA-Story.com including podcasts or videos including the accompanying text, please respect copyright provisions. We require a notation of content origination (meaning credit tag), a linkback to the specific page & please email the link to stevie@la-story.com before the piece goes live.
LA-Story.com, LA-Story Recessionista, Celebrity Stylescope, Celebrity Style Slam Trademark/Copyright: KBP Inc. 2007-12