The Quest for a Pink Sport Coat
{”The Madison Fit Pink Three-Button Panama Sport Coat” – doesn’t exactly slide off your tongue, does it?}
For the past few weeks I’ve been on an epic quest to find a pink sport coat for a certain rehearsal dinner coming up. I honestly didn’t think this would be a big deal, but as the days, and then weeks, passed, I was coming up with nothing. Even the internet couldn’t produce a cheap pink suit that I could dolly up and pass off as halfway decent. When last in Boston, I scoured the entire length of Newbury Street – stopping everywhere – Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Lilly Pulitzer, Ted Baker, Rugby, Zara, Annabelle Jones (okay, that was for an opera coat, which I did find) – and even went off the Newbury path to Saks, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, Macy’s, and Club freaking Monaco. All to no avail.
A few FaceBook friends suggested Brooks Brothers, which I’d been avoiding because I knew they might have one, but I also knew it would be more than I could afford to spend, rehearsal dinner or not. As is usual in these fashion quests, the heart leads the head, so I gave in and checked out the Brooks Brothers site and found this pink sport coat - all Spring perfection and dream realization coupled with that hefty pricetag I looked at but instantly justified. After bookmarking the page, I decided to try calling the Brooks Brothers’ outlets within a three-hour radius and seeing if they had any pink sport coats before placing the online order.
I started out with the Lee, MA outlet, which suggested I try Manchester, VT (I’d made the trek for Burberry, surely I could cajole Andy into another emergency stop for Brooks Brothers – he would be the one sitting next to me at dinner after all), but Manchester only had them starting at size 40 – Long. They directed me to Lake George, NY (right in my upstate NY backyard, which was news to me) and they had one in a size that would fit with only minor tailoring.
The next day we made the quick trip to Lake George, and I am now the happy owner of a Brooks Brothers Pink Sport Coat (at a hugely discounted price – about 75% off). Yes, we have a rehearsal dinner outfit. Well, except for the shoes. I’m looking for something in pink…