Close Fit · PTO 1990s Black Fitted Jacket with MOP buttons, AU 12
Polyester crepe · black · pointed shirt collar · 4 mother-of-pearl disc buttons · princess seaming · shoulder padding · hip length · pto · Made in Australia · 1990s · AU 12 · flat L 59cm · Very good
The collar is a pointed shirt collar, not lapels: a deliberate choice that sits closer to the chest and keeps everything tidy. Four large mother-of-pearl disc buttons close the front, round and cream against the deep black crepe. The seaming is princess: a clean vertical line from shoulder to hem that holds the silhouette without excess fabric between you and it. Padded at the shoulders, as the decade insisted, which is what gives that strong clean line. Hip length. Lined.
The tailored black jacket is among the most persistent garments in 20th-century fashion, reappearing every few years in a different guise. The PTO version is 1990s in its precision: a strong shoulder line, a fitted body, nothing decorative except the quality of the buttons. Made in Australia. The label is small and clean, lowercase script, which was its own kind of statement.
The crepe is in good order, the black holding without greening. The mother-of-pearl buttons are intact.
Material
Polyester crepe
Care
hand-wash warm and hang to drip dry. Cool iron. Dry clean is also fine.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: length 59cm, bust 53cm, waist 45cm, the sleeves 60cm long and 18cm wide. Fitted through the body, true to her AU 12.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
very good. No pilling. Lining clean.
Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.
Before it reaches you
Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.
Four small moons of mother-of-pearl, counted and buttoned, and suddenly you are the kind of person who confirms appointments. The shoulders carry the padding so you do not have to carry the decade. Somewhere a fax machine is still humming her name to an empty office, and she has never once called back. You put this on and you know exactly where you are going, even if you have not decided yet.