Fashion Pet Peeve #1

It's after Thanksgiving, the weather has turned chilly, and the streets of New York are teeming with shoppers and tourists wearing coats. As I walked down the street this week, I had several sightings of my #1 fashion pet peeve: the stitched-down rear vent.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about:

As you can see in the image at left, there is a slit in the back of the coat starting at the hem. This vent is meant to open and provide greater range of movement as you walk. However, in an effort to avoid wrinkling in transit, many manufacturers will put one or two small, loose basting stitches to hold the two sides of the vent together. These stitches are meant to be CLIPPED before you wear the garment. Yet, time and time again, I see people with well-worn coats where the vent has never been opened. So they walk down the street, coat flapping behind them, looking ridiculous because there is a foot-long gash in the back of their coat held together at the bottom only by a stich or two.

I thought about playing Fashion Police on 5th Avenue for a couple of hours, armed with a pair of scissors to help out the offenders. But then I saw a busload of tourists get out at Rockefeller Center at 9 am all decked out in Santa hats and appliqued holiday sweaters, and I knew I had a more important mission ahead.

Coat shown: Burberry London Islington nylon trench at Net-a-Porter.com. It would be a SIN to insult this coat by not cutting its vent. Enough said. /rant.