Retro Return: Highland Park store reunites vintage jacket with original owner 45 years later

In a heart-warming but unexpected series of events — nearly as complex as a successful triple-axel in which everything has to hit right — a Northbrook Icette alumna has been reunited with her childhood skating jacket.

A 1980s-style bomber jacket in a shiny royal blue with gold-yellow buttons, trim and “Stacy” embossed on the front caught the eye of K-Solo Vintage co-owner Taryn Fisher nearly six months ago, likely at an estate sale. She displayed it proudly at her Highland Park store.

Until April 27, the day that the jacket’s rightful owner, former Deerfield resident Stacy Karel, picked up the items from her memorabilia box that had made their way to K-Solo. 

The serendipity began to unfold a bit before then, when another Northbrook competitive skating alumna and friend of Karel’s spotted the jacket while perusing the thrifted clothing at Fisher’s store, which she opened with husband Kevin Weinstein this past November.

On vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Karel received a text from her friend with images of her old jacket.

Karel told The Record she instantly recognized it, down to her name, address and phone number scrawled on the inside tag in her 11-year-old handwriting. She reached out to the store via phone and email to introduce herself.

Fisher couldn’t believe her eyes.

“She sent us the picture that her friend took and said, ‘I’m Stacy, and that’s my jacket, and I think I quickly was like, ‘Stacy you have no idea, we love you, you are a part of our store. Please come, we want to show you the other things we think might be yours,” she said.

Unbeknownst to Karel, she had become an unofficial mascot for the store. The popular jacket had been at K-Solo since the store’s opening.

“We have all these jackets, but none of them were as petite and child-sized,” Fisher said on what made the jacket stand out. “And it had the script embroidery of ‘Stacy’ on the front of the jacket. All walks of life love this jacket, but nobody would buy it, so it just became a staple in the store. …  So, we would talk about Stacy every now and then, and Stacy was just part of our family.”

Karel, too, had her own questions about the jacket after she learned where it had ended up.

“At first, I was wondering, where could the jacket have been?” Karel, now a Lincoln Park resident, said. “Like, what life did this jacket have that it ended up in a thrift store?”

But then, Karel realized that she had never lived in the Highland Park home where her parents hosted the estate sale in 2024, but her memorabilia box, which she hadn’t seen since her teenage years in Deerfield, made its way over there.  

Two of Karel’s other belongings had been acquired by K-Solo in the same thrifting haul: a prom charm with a gold heart engraved with Karel’s name, the name of her prom date and the year, 1985; and a keychain souvenir from Six Flags Great America with a peep-hole-like plastic magnifier through which one could see a picture of Karel and her prom date.

“The ladies (running) the house sale must’ve opened up that box, and thought, ‘I could sell this or I could sell this,’ and put a few things out and left the rest of the box potentially for junk, but I (later found it) in the basement,” Karel said. “I was super excited about it; I didn’t think at all that anything could’ve been missing (from the box). So, it wasn’t until I got the notification that K-Solo had the jacket that I even remembered its existence.”

Karel drove to Highland Park to reunite with her items, putting on the jacket in a nostalgia-filled moment. (“Yeah, I mean, it’s so small — I was happy that I could get it on!” Karel joked.)

The reunion came at the perfect time.

This Mother’s Day weekend, Karel is skating in the Northbrook Park District’s ice show, Northbrook-On-Ice, as part of the alumni number. That means she has also gotten to share this reunion experience with her fellow team members. 

For Fisher, too, the journey has been “totally dreamy” and shown her the power of community, especially as the jacket represents the bonds and memories Karel formed through skating.

“It was a really feel-good moment,” Fisher said of the reunion. “We picked Highland Park (for the store) because we love this community. To have it reflected back in that way to bring some joy (is so exciting). We’ve got to find the joy where we can find it these days and the store is a joyful space.”

Though the jacket can never be replaced, when asked if any other items at K-Solo might become the next unofficial mascot, Fisher said she’s eyeing a couture yellow gown from circa 1965 with embroidered yellow florals. 

“It will have to do now that Stacy’s gone,” she said.

Gone but not forgotten. Fisher has plans to commemorate the experience: In the store, she’d like to hang up a recent picture of Karel, donning her blue skating jacket, with her fellow Icettes.

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