Coal Seam · Country Road 1980s Wide-Wale Corduroy Skirt
100% cotton wide-wale corduroy, poly lining · deep box pleats · angled hip pockets, tabbed rear pocket · Country Road, Australia · 1980s · 83cm long, 76cm hip flat · tagged a vintage 12, fits smaller
Under ordinary light she reads flat charcoal, but lean in close and the wale throws up small hints of brown along every ridge, warmth hiding inside what looks like a cold colour from across the room.
The wale runs wide and flat underfoot, a hundred small ridges holding light the way a ploughed field holds it at dusk, warmth and shadow alternating down the same narrow rows. Country Road has been building exactly this kind of quiet, considered basic in Australia since 1970, pieces meant to be lived in rather than admired once and put away, and this one carries that instinct through every deep, unhurried pleat. Made sometime in the 1980s, when a corduroy skirt this structured still counted as proper daywear, she has the patience of a piece built to outlast a single season, or several.
Two angled pockets sit at the front hip, cut on the diagonal rather than straight, and a third pocket at the back carries its own buttoned flap, tabbed and functional rather than decorative. She closes at centre back with a metal zip and a single plastic button at the waistband, and belt loops run the waist for anyone who wants to cinch her further. The hem falls to 103cm around, full enough that the pleats have real room to swing.
Material
100% cotton corduroy, polyester lining
Care
Dry clean recommended; do not spot clean. Iron warm on the reverse side only if needed, to protect the wale.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: Measured flat, she runs 83cm long with a 35cm waist and a 76cm hip, easing out to a 103cm hem thanks to the deep box pleats. Tagged a vintage 12, but she runs noticeably smaller than that number suggests, worth checking the flat measurements closely before buying. Recommeded for an AU 8, as it was not possible to button her up on our size 10 mannequin. International size XS to S.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
Excellent. No flaws to the wale, pleats or pockets, and the zip, button and belt loops are all fully intact and functioning. The corduroy holds its ridge cleanly throughout with no flattening or wear.
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.
She tells you she is charcoal and only admits to the brown once you are close enough that it no longer feels like information, more like something she decided to let you notice. The pleats hold their secrets the same way, three per side, each one a small fold of fabric she is not required to explain. She is smaller than her tag claims, which is either an old habit of hers or a small act of quiet resistance. Either way, trust the tape measure over the label.