HER FIRST FUR

Eloise never had a fur coat.

Of all the admirable terms and phrases we could use to describe our Granny, fancy would not be one of them. Not in terms of dress anyway. Her outfits were utilitarian, inelegant, practical. Her shoes were seemingly always worn thin from the hours and hours she spent on her perpetually-aching feet. Eloise didn’t show up to be seen, she showed up to do. And yet, even she could find joy and appreciation in a little bit of luxury – she rolled around town in a limited-edition champagne pink Thunderbird that somehow Daddy Doug had managed to get ahold of for her back when he was running a Ford dealership. She’d have never asked for a fur coat – she never asked for anything, not even that car, a fur coat surely wasn’t even on her radar – and probably would’ve refused if we’d tried to gift her one in life. Well, she can’t stop us now.

Because this is a collection to honor her, we tried to come up with a bit of a compromise, something that she would not only like and approve of, but something we might’ve even gotten her to wear back in the day. That’s where the idea of a jean jacket trimmed in fur came from, because let me tell you – it didn’t matter what time of year it was, there was absolutely no way our Granny Eller was putting on a full-length fur.

“You’ve never met a woman that ran hotter than Granny Eller!” said Hedy. “She was always hot, ALWAYS. She ran her air conditioner at 68-degrees day and night, all year long. She was always sweating, and I remember that about her, because I got it from her. Daddy and Taylor and I all did. She was always hot and her feet always hurt, and I got that from her, too! It’s a good thing I also got her wit.”

So, yeah… an actual fur coat was out of the picture. And even leather seemed a little over-the-top for Granny Eller, a little heavy and to be honest, a little opulent.

“Granny was never dressed up,” recalled Cheryl. “She seemed to always be in a dress, but never dressed up. It was more function than form, lightweight – because she was always hot – simple dresses. I think I found one picture of her in all my digging, when she was what I would consider dressed up, and it was for her daughter Marsha’s wedding. Otherwise, it was mostly short-sleeved, A-line polyester dresses and headscarves. You know, just not a lot of frills.”

It was decided it should be denim. There’s nothing more classic than a good jean jacket – timeless, comfortable, practical, all adjectives that make us think of Granny Eller. We added some embellishments, feminine florals and of course the fur collar and cuffs, as a tribute to the little bit of fancy that she always deserved but never demanded. 

This one’s for you, Eloise.

Love the look but don’t fancy fur? We’ve got you covered!