So, You Want a Coat like Penny Lane?

I found you 23 vintage Penny Lane coats (~sizes XS-XXL) under $200!

If you ever get lonely, just go to the vintage store and visit your friends… 🎤

I’m Emily Stochl and this is Pre-Loved, an indie media platform serving you fab vintage fashion!

Let’s chat about a vintage staple — you know her, you love her — it’s the Penny Lane coat! This is, of course, a long suede coat with furry trim on the collar and sleeves, notoriously worn by ‘Penny Lane,’ as played by Kate Hudson, in the 2000 movie, Almost Famous.

Set in 1973, Almost Famous is the coming-of-age story of a 15-year-old music fanatic, William, who lands a gig interviewing his favorite band, Stillwater, for Rolling Stone magazine. It’s loosely based on the writer/director Cameron Crowe’s life as a music journalist — and Crowe did really go on the road with the Allman Brothers for Rolling Stone when he was sixteen!

While on the road, William falls in love with more than the music, and finds that the real story is actually the women who inspire the musicians, particularly the enchanting ingénue, Penny Lane.

Enter baby-faced Kate Hudson wearing her now-namesake ‘Penny Lane’ coat. Actually, in interviews, the Almost Famous costume designer, Betsy Heimann, credits 1920s opera coats as her design inspiration for Penny’s coat, which she made by cutting up a shearling rug (from Urban Outfitters!) for the trim.

But, because of the early 70s of it all, when I see the Penny Lane coat, I see the Afghan coats that became popular with rockstars of the era.

Afghan coats — traditionally made in the Ghanzi province of Afghanistan (near Kabul) — have a sheep or goatskin suede-like base with thick, fluffy sheep’s fleece lining and trim to keep the wearer warm in extremely cold winters.

The hippie subculture imported the style to the U.K., first by Craig Sams who owned the London fashion boutique, Granny Takes a Trip, on Kings Road. After Sams traveled to Kabul in 1966, he began importing and selling the Afghan coats at his boutique. Soon after, in 1967, the Beatles were photographed leaving Granny Takes a Trip wearing Afghan coats — and a craze was born.

John Lennon wore his to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album launch party at Brian Epstein’s house, May 1967.

Other U.K. clothing boutiques rapidly began stocking them. In 1968, Harpers Bazaar put a model in an Afghan coat on the magazine’s cover. Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin wore them, and David Bowie even got married in one in 1970.

But, most importantly, Pamela Des Barres — the real life music-loving goddess-groupie-muse, said to inspire the character of Penny Lane in Almost Famous — wore one.

Pamela Des Barres with her girls group, GTO

*It should be noted that Pamela Des Barres doesn’t seem to love the fact that the most famous account of a 1970s groupie is a fictional one, told through the narrative perspective of a young boy, rather than the women themselves. Des Barres has long reclaimed the title, ‘groupie,’ a role she says she and her friends were proud of. Check out her book, I’m With the Band for her story, in her words.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, these coats had gotten so popular in the U.K. and U.S. that, of course, the fashion industry started ripping them off, rather than importing them directly from Afghanistan.

The earliest Afghan coats, usually featured very elaborate decorative hand-embroidered patterns. And they were appropriately costly — I’ve found ads for Afghan coats in 1968 for $215, or, with inflation, nearly $2,000 today.

PS: If you’ve got the coins, you can go for one of the true Made in Afghanistan coats of the era, of which you can find beautiful options for $800-$1,000+ vintage. Think of them as 50% off the 1968 cost, or, still cheaper than Toteme. 👀

And, like thirty-year clockwork, when Almost Famous released in 2000, it sparked a new love for this vintage style. The Y2K Penny Lane coats have their own flair, sometimes with a denim or corduroy twist that’s unique to the era.

I hope this history helps you understand the Penny Lane coats on the vintage market. Some of them might be true Afghan coats from the 1960s or earlier, others might be the more popularized take on them from the 70s onward. Others still might be from the ‘Penny Lane’ revival of the 2000s.

Regardless, this style coat of is hugely popular. According to shopping platform Lyst, search for shearling style coats spiked 56% last winter.

But of course, the best ones are vintage!

So, for Pre-Loved subscribers, I’ve rounded-up 23 vintage Penny Lane coats (~sizes XS-XXL) under $200 today! Plus, search terms to save for your next vintage hunt on Gem. Let’s dive right in!