Every jacket this 100-year-old woman creates contains a lifetime

One after another, the women appeared, each wearing a hand-sewn, customized jacket crafted by Nancy Epley. The jackets each told the story of the wearer’s life.

About 25 women, all wearing Epley’s jackets, modelled the garments and shared the stories behind them.

“They walked the runway,” said Epley, 100, who has spent the past 20 years crafting jackets by hand.

To date, she’s made more than 200 jackets – and no two are the same. She gives them to friends and family and, sometimes, total strangers.

“It’s a pleasure for me to work with fabrics,” Epley said from her home in Lexington, Va., where she spends most days making art. “I’ve always enjoyed it so much.”