I have a friend who once told me, “My fam­i­ly is not just a fam­i­ly. We are a tribe.” This res­onat­ed with me because I think grow­ing up there were many fam­i­lies around me who would iden­ti­fy with this kind of fierce “stick togeth­er­ness”. I was sur­round­ed by trib­al fam­i­lies: strong, (often) large, loy­al, proud, and of course chaot­ic in the usu­al ways that work­ing imper­fec­tion can be messy. This trib­al love flood­ed the schools, neigh­bor­hoods and greater com­mu­ni­ty. It can be no sur­prise that I went home to build my busi­ness from noth­ing. Well, not from noth­ing. The love I have around me in Indi­ana is actu­al­ly quite something!

When I decid­ed to move to New York City, it was a quick deci­sion. Even though I had some real­ly great and loy­al friends liv­ing or work­ing in the city, I knew things wouldn’t be easy. And I have to say I got lucky (or might I say that grace found me!) because I found myself liv­ing with the right peo­ple at the right time. On Youtube, there is a video of Hugh Jack­man rehears­ing the song “From Now On” with oth­er actors/actresses. I love this video because it reminds me so much of the com­radery I expe­ri­enced with my cowork­ers, room­mates, and friends in NYC. They were incred­i­ble and they inspired me.  I miss them very much!

Then Covid-19 hit. Pre­cise­ly as I felt like I final­ly found my tribe in Gotham City, I had to leave abrupt­ly. I don’t exact­ly know what will hap­pen next, but I will nev­er for­get these moments and the peo­ple who came into my life in NYC. In phys­i­cal iso­la­tion I dipped into the stores of admi­ra­tion and inspi­ra­tion and found myself in a state burst­ing with cre­ative affec­tion for them.

Blazer with Leather Elbow Patches

Behold, my New York Steak Jack­et! It was made as a trib­ute to the place and peo­ple that have come to be and sym­bol­ize so much for me. A friend asked me a cou­ple months ago, “Where is the first place you’ll go when things open up?” My imme­di­ate response, “Gallagher’s Steak­house in New York City!!” There is no place like the old school speakeasy restau­rant and it is hands down the best place to eat in NYC. Some of the men there served and remem­bered my dad almost 30 years ago. Like the steak­house, the old­er servers are legends!

Bespoke tai­lors are known to write secret mes­sages inside the jack­ets on the can­vas. Inside my plaid blaz­er I wrote the names of every­one who impact­ed me in NYC on the can­vas and twill tape. (The list is long.)

I’ll explain some of the oth­er design choic­es as I show pho­tos of the jacket.

Watch work in progress videos on Mary Grace’s Insta­gram

I chose a plaid & tweed tex­tile for a vari­ety of rea­sons. The first rea­son was because I LOVE the Irish in New York City. My favorite peo­ple and bars in NYC are Irish. They are down to earth, hard work­ers, and know how to enjoy life to the fullest! And like I tell my friends- “If your bar­tender is Irish, you’ll have a lucky and very good night!” (In my opin­ion, Blas­ket Pub is the best NYC bar!)

The sec­ond rea­son I chose tweed was to chan­nel Pro­fes­sor Hig­gins from the movie My Fair Lady. I’m a bit embar­rassed to admit this, but I felt like Eliza Doolit­tle when I began my work in the city. I was an Indi­ana girl try­ing to  act and speak like a refined New York­er overnight. (I’m laugh­ing as I write this now, but it wasn’t too fun­ny at the start. I lit­er­al­ly prac­ticed in my residence’s exer­cise room every morn­ing until I could speak prop­er­ly. One of my boss­es even shared a book title, which I asked for, so I could learn bet­ter etiquette.)

The last rea­son I chose the red pat­tern was because the old Gallagher’s NYC Steak­house, before the ren­o­va­tions in 2013, had red check­ered table clothes. (See bot­tom right pho­to in the col­lage post­ed above.)

In hon­or of Gallagher’s famous meat lock­er, I made leather rib­eye steak elbow patch­es for the sports jacket!

The elbow patch­es are also inspired by the “Break­fast” suit I saw at the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Muse­um of Art in Man­hat­tan. Designed by a quirky fash­ion design­er, Christi­na Fran­cis Roth.

On the right wrist, I embroi­dered a mouse for all my room­mates. (Not all our room­mates paid rent…and squeaked.) I miss these women the most. Covid-19 forced most of us to scat­ter and move back to our fam­i­lies around the world. It’s sad to think that we may nev­er be back togeth­er to share sto­ries, tears, laughs, and cul­tures! #nine­floor­sis­ter­hood!!

I hand embroi­dered a gold winged foot on my left wrist. This sym­bol­izes my esteem for all the Greeks I worked with, the New York Ath­let­ic Club, and my quick move in and out of the city.

Wom­en’s Hunt­ing Jack­et Details:

~100% Plaid Wool 

~Real Leather Welt Pock­ets, But­tons, and Elbow Patches

~Front and Back Darts for Cinched Waist

~ Nylon Shoul­der Pads

~Silk Lined with Navy Silk Suede

~Cen­ter Back Vent

~ Bespoke Tai­lor­ing Tech­niques (Pad Stitched Can­vas, Lapels, and Collar)

~Appar­el Cus­tom Hand Embroidery 

More pho­tos of the tweed blaz­er and pho­tos of NYC inspiration