A blast from the past since this vest ceased to exist a long time ago but I kept this pics since then and I thought it might be a good idea to post it here for historical purposes.
This was the very last state of the vest (mid 2014) before realizing how odd it looked and how sparsely I was wearing it - only for a few select shows or festivals.
I grow out of the "full vest" thing. I felt it as something completlely overdone, pretentious and too much try-hard.
I felt looking like a freak wearing this outside of the few occassions where it fitted, so too much of a hassle for something that was rearely taken out of the closet.
Some updates were posted here on TSS back in the time so maybe some of you could remember it.
During the first year (2010) I had a vintage Slayer "Show No Mercy" backpatch that I pretended to change for the vintage "Hell Awaits" one. However around 2011 I found that vintage Sodom backpath for a mere 5€ on a now defunct distro and I was shocked to know that it was one of Sodom's holy grails of merchandise. So for a long time I wore this vest with a lot of pride.
Patches were changing on a constant basis during all this time: selling, buying, trading... Sometimes removing patches from bands I didn't listen to in a long time or that I felt they no longer represented myself. Or sometimes changing a patch from a band I had multiple patches of. It's said a vest is never finished.
Dismantled it in late 2014. Sold most of the patches including the backpatch (for now a ridiculous price) and changed for a more classic and simple vest that could be worn everywhere and on virtually any occasion.
I never regretted to dismantle it and sell almost everything except a very few exceptions.
On an insight I now feel like this vest represented the end of a "golden era" of patches before the explosion of clown patch distros, clown patch shapes, clown oversaturated bad quality colorful patches and much before the "patch game" became a meme of itself.
Or maybe I'm just getting old and that's an old man rant!