My Grandma’s Suit.
If I could walk a mile in my grandma’s shoes
If I could know her now
That I am old
Her strength lives inside of me
Her passion
Her love of design
Her eye
I am of her
I wear her love
Her meticulousness
Her pride
My Grandma’s suit
I wear
Chanel.
I recently was gifted my grandmother’s suit, a Chanel design that my grandmother made for my aunt many years ago. It is a beautifully preserved meticulously created crème colored wool skirt and jacket trimmed with precision in gorgeous black silky braid trim adorned with large pearled buttons. An immigrant from Croatia, my grandmother left the former Yugoslavia with very little after losing the seaside cafe and home she owned with her husband during the communist takeover in WWII. My grandmother arrived in Chicago alone with her three young daughters, all of their belongings packed into two small suitcases.
My favorite memories of my grandmother were visiting her seamstress shop a short walk around the corner from Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue. A shop filled with luxurious materials, scraps of cloth, mannequins, sewing machines, and pin cushions filled with colorful needles of all sizes and shapes. Whenever she came to visit us she came dressed in beautiful clothing, rich sweaters, and deeply hued scarves with pearls around her neck. She always had the latest Vogue magazine in her bag and often times she could be found cozied up on the couch enjoying the presence of her two youngest daughters and her grandchildren playing. To acquire a Chanel jacket is something that every classic fashionista covets, but to own a Chanel jacket made by the hands of my grandma is the ultimate treasure for me.
