On My Personal Radar: Chimayo Jackets!

Yours truly in my coveted 1940's Chimayo. Bad girl attitude not included. ;)

Ahhhh.... lovely lovely Chimayo jackets. A vintage collector's dream. After years of wanting the perfect one, I came across my dream Chimayo last April at the Viva Las Vegas rockabilly weekender. It's a deep cobalt/teal blue cropped 1940's womens style, swing cut with wide sleeves and puffed 1940's shoulders. The designs are in red, black, and cream. I got it for basically a steal on the last day of vending. It's worth probably 3 to 4 times what I paid for it. But that's boring dealer talk- you all could care less about that.

Anyhow, so of course, being the vintage hoarder that I am- now I want more. Specifically a black one... the most pricey of the colors of Chimayos. Maybe one day I'll find that perfect black one, maybe one day I'll actually have the money to throw down for one right on the spot, but for now a gal can dream...

So what is a "Chimayo" jacket? Well, Chimayo is a village north of Santa Fe in New Mexico. Weaving traditions in northern New Mexico date back hundreds of years, and Chimayo is probably the best known weaving center in the region. Chimayo weavers incorporated both Navajo and Hispanic motifs into their goods. These particular jackets first became popular with tourists in the 1930's because they were much easier to take with them when traveling, versus large traditional blankets and sarapes.

Here's a few killer examples of vintage Chimayo jackets, both mens and womens styles:

A KILLER mens Chimayo. This baby is worth big bucks, for sure- how appropriate that it's listed on a Japanese vintage site. Finding them in black is a super rarity, especially in this cropped "Ricky" or "Ike" style and in the larger mens size. Drool...

Another fabulous black Chimayo. You can also read about these jackets in this blog. They have a very nice write-up as well that's very extensive.

A rare eagle motif! Wowee-zowee! This image was taken from the blog listed above as well.

 

A lovely 1940's womens style that was available on Etsy. Get a load of those colors! 4th of July, anyone? ;)