Back in 2006, I bought a really fancy white corduroy sports jacket at the Polo Mansion on the Upper East Side. It was Ralph Lauren Purple Label and on deep, deep discount, probably because it’s sort of an insane idea—almost like a formal white dinner jacket...but corduroy?
Anyway, I spent pretty much every dollar I had on it and wore it quite a lot, including to dinner with Adam Rapoport, who was the style editor at GQ then. At the time, I worked at an independent music magazine and looked pretty scraggly, but when Adam saw this jacket, I think he started wondering if I had interest in other stuff besides rap music and dirty Levi’s. A couple of months later, he called to see if I wanted to interview for a job at GQ. I guess blowing all my money on a bizarre sports coat got me the job I’ve been doing for almost eight years now.
Recently I found the jacket in a garment bag in my office closet. I got it dry-cleaned and had it re-tailored and wore it to a black-tie wedding this fall. Nobody seemed to notice that parts of it are going a little yellow. I think I’ll keep wearing it to parties where the lights are dim and people are wasted.