The Souvenir: Painter’s Smock

Earlier this year I was in Brussels for a couple of days, and while we were window shopping I spotted a painter’s smock—it looked super OG, and it was beckoning me to come look at it. It was inside a huge art supply store called Schleiper, which had everything you could possibly imagine, including some beautiful still-life paintings with gilded frames that were in and of themselves worth more than what they were charging. We found the smock section, and I chose the tan one, as I already have some vintage black smocks that I picked up at a flea market in France. What can I say—even though I’m definitely not a painter, I love a smock for many reasons. I wear it as an apron/coverall if I’m doing some dusty cleanup work, or I’ll have it in a bag for a summer night if it gets a bit chilly, or I’ll bring it to wear over any kind of legging or pant where I want to have some backside coverage. This one is made in France, and while I thoroughly enjoyed having mine be a souvenir from my short trip in Belgium, you can also order them online here.