Two years ago Warner Brothers Records released a My Chemical Romance (MCR) Black Parade jacket in honor of the 10-year anniversary of the band’s third studio album. As a teen bands like Story of the Year, Linkin Park, HIM and MCR were my life back in high school. More so MCR with their work being about pain, and moving on and as you can expect they heavily influenced my style back then. (Even though I was goth and not emo but that is a discussion for another blog post.)  So when this jacket was announced I wanted it. BADLY.  Sadly I was unemployed at the time so I didn’t have the funds necessary to buy it. By the time I got around to having said funds to buy it, all of the larger sizes were already sold out and I had to accepted the fact that I would have to wait until possibly the 20 year re-release to even get the chance to own reminiscent of that design.
That is until last month when I received a Facebook message from a friend that read, “I was shopping for a jacket and I came across a Marlena-jacket.” I clicked on the accompanying link and had no choice but to agree. Not only was it black and pink (aka my favorite colors), the overall military-inspired design immediately bought the aforementioned Black Parade-era of MCR to mind for me. I purchased it immediately and I don’t regret it at all. This  jacket is made of a twill material that has the same weight and similar feel to denim which is great for season-transition weather that we’re having as we officially enter spring. It is a fitted silhouette so there isn’t much stretch to it which is why I sized up to make sure that my arms fit properly. Unfortunately this also made the sleeves a bit long for my short arms, but I just tucked the ends in and it was fine.

Because of its silhouette, this is a jacket that can be easily styled up or down. I decided to go for a feminine edge by pairing it with a mesh-overlay top and these Lee Dream skinny jeans, which honestly have to be the softest jeans I’ve ever owned. They do have more stretch than I like in my denim but they actually manage to keep their shape and don’t sag at all. While this is not even close to resembling any outfit I wore back in my MCR-obsessed high school days, I feel that it is a much more refined version of what I would have worn back then and I love that I’m able to still able to show my love for MCR in such a way.

Besides the colors and the tailored fit, I would have to say that my favorite part of this jacket are the button cuffs and embroidery detail.

~Get the look~

Vintage Mauve Twill Military Jacket (Size 2)| Torrid
Platinum Label Dream Ava Skinny (Size 14) | c/o Lee
Mesh top with cami (2X) | Ashley Stewart  (similar here)
American Eagle Lace Up Ankle Boots | Payless (similar here)

Is there any band or musical artist that means a lot to you? Have they ever influenced your style in any way?