The old lady, the herring, and the block of ice

“No contact with savage Indian tribes has ever daunted me more than the morning I spent with an old lady swathed in woolies who compared herself to a rotten herring encased in a block of ice.” - Claude Levi-Strauss

There's so much going on with Luella's boucle coat...the lacing on the cuffs...the zips on the pockets...the tulle overlay on the collar...not to mention the punked up old lady check...that it could so easily veer into overkill (the roadkill of the catwalk). Yet, brilliantly, it doesn't.

Instead it makes me want to raid resale shops until I can find a tweed coat to sacrifice in homage...sadly my realistic little inner voice cautions me that although my DIY skills are up to the challenge of adding lacing to sleeves or zippers to pockets I lack the wherewithal to be able to recreate the over-sized-yet-fitted cut which I find completely mesmerizing.