Secret closet to the past
Sep. 22nd, 2003 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
listersgirlI realized today that I've now come full fashion circle from university, and it only took 10 years. Today, you see, I am wearing a shirt that I bought last week, a multi-coloured stripy stretchy thing. I used to wear these all the time in university. I don't think I was able to pass up a striped t-shirt, short or long sleeved, and as a consequence, a good three-quarters of my shirts through university were covered in horizontal stripes of various sizes.
Eventually I got tired of the stripes, which was helped by the fact that I was gaining weight and the shirts didn't fit all that well any more. Sometimes I would pass striped shirts in the store, and be attracted to them, but then I would remember that I just put two in the bag for Goodwill, and I would walk on by. I've been fully stripe free for at least 6 years. So when I looked at myself in the mirror today it was like looking at an old photo.
It got me to thinking, though, about all the clothes I've gotten rid of over the years. I've never been a clothing hoarder. I clean out my closet twice a year, and if something doesn't fit, or I haven't worn it in the last year, it's gone. I've never had much closet space, so that's part of the drive to get rid of things, but it's also that I want to actively like everything I own. I have to get up early to get to work, and I don't have much time, so I can't be hanging around trying on 7 different outfits until I find one that works. Of course, the downside of this is that I constantly feel like I need new clothes, because didn't I just wear this skirt 2 days ago?
The clothes that are gone, though, I bet there are things that I would wear again now - the striped shirts, for one. And when peasant blouses were in all the stores a while ago, I had to battle a longing for my high school era gauzy shirts and dresses. Who knows what else will come round again? My grade 10 grad dress was a fabulous 40's vintage dress, olive green lace with buttons down the front, that I got rid a couple of years later because it didn't fit, but who's to say that one day I won't be that size again. And dammit, I'm really going to miss that dress then.
Of course, I can only hope that the day will never come when I regret discarding the tight lemon yellow jeans with the zippers at the ankles and the bleach splotches, or the hot pink off the shoulder sweatshirt I wore with them. Because at that point, I might just have to kill myself.
Eventually I got tired of the stripes, which was helped by the fact that I was gaining weight and the shirts didn't fit all that well any more. Sometimes I would pass striped shirts in the store, and be attracted to them, but then I would remember that I just put two in the bag for Goodwill, and I would walk on by. I've been fully stripe free for at least 6 years. So when I looked at myself in the mirror today it was like looking at an old photo.
It got me to thinking, though, about all the clothes I've gotten rid of over the years. I've never been a clothing hoarder. I clean out my closet twice a year, and if something doesn't fit, or I haven't worn it in the last year, it's gone. I've never had much closet space, so that's part of the drive to get rid of things, but it's also that I want to actively like everything I own. I have to get up early to get to work, and I don't have much time, so I can't be hanging around trying on 7 different outfits until I find one that works. Of course, the downside of this is that I constantly feel like I need new clothes, because didn't I just wear this skirt 2 days ago?
The clothes that are gone, though, I bet there are things that I would wear again now - the striped shirts, for one. And when peasant blouses were in all the stores a while ago, I had to battle a longing for my high school era gauzy shirts and dresses. Who knows what else will come round again? My grade 10 grad dress was a fabulous 40's vintage dress, olive green lace with buttons down the front, that I got rid a couple of years later because it didn't fit, but who's to say that one day I won't be that size again. And dammit, I'm really going to miss that dress then.
Of course, I can only hope that the day will never come when I regret discarding the tight lemon yellow jeans with the zippers at the ankles and the bleach splotches, or the hot pink off the shoulder sweatshirt I wore with them. Because at that point, I might just have to kill myself.
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having just done a thorough closet cleaning myself
Date: 2003-09-23 10:30 am (UTC)