We all inherit certain things from our parents, whether we like it or not. (I’m still allowed to blame my mom for my tendency toward messiness as an adult, right?) But sometimes the things we get from them aren’t just encoded in our DNA—if you’re lucky, you just might also have a few precious items from Mom and Dad that live on in your apartment.
A handful of years ago, various designers spoke to Vogue about the beloved things they inherited from their mothers. Now, Vogue staffers are sharing the most emotionally resonant heirlooms they’ve been given—or, in certain cases, borrowed or straight-up stolen—from our fathers, from books to record collections to vests to taxidermy (!). Read about them all below:
A favorite jacket
My dad gave me (well, I stole it, but he let me) his amazing brown leather bomber jacket. It’s perfectly worn-in and slouchy, and comes with a detachable shearling collar. I begged him for it as a teen and it wasn’t until my mid-to-late 20s that he finally succumbed. It’s one of my favorite jackets, for both sentimental and style reasons. —Christian Allaire, Senior Fashion & Style Writer
A full classic-rock record collection
I inherited my dad’s (dare I say) excellent music taste—particularly his love for the Rolling Stones. As a result, he passed down his entire teenage record collection to me! I started being interested in classic rock in my teens, and this brought us even closer together.
My dad is a doctor, but briefly considered foregoing his medical career to instead be a drummer. Throughout college, he played in reggae and ska bands, and collected some great records. Pictured are some of his finds mixed with mine, including a copy of the Stones’ 1971 LP Sticky Fingers, which features artwork by Andy Warhol on the cover. This particular copy has the original functioning zipper of earlier pressings, which they stopped producing in 1977. —Fred Sahai, Associate Commerce Producer, Vogue Shopping
The Smiths on vinyl
Around the time I went to college, my dad gifted me his truly astounding record collection from the ’80s. He worked at a Tower Records in West Covina, California for a few years and accumulated a number of what have become my all-time favorite releases by artists like INXS, Echo and the Bunnymen, Sade, and New Order. His absolute favorite band was The Smiths, and he spent most of his paychecks on whatever rare and collectible vinyls his store got shipped in from the UK that week. My personal favorite in his (my) Smiths collection is a gorgeous pink marbled 12″ vinyl of their 1987 single “Shoplifters of the World Unite,” with a vintage photo of Elvis Presley smirking on the cover. There were less than a thousand copies pressed in Germany and I’ve been too scared to ever actually play it—it’s actually tucked away in a closet in my childhood home in Oklahoma, along with a few other rarer vinyls. One of my goals this year is to finally transport them to New York so I can get the Elvis one framed! —Keaton Bell, Entertainment Editor
