Friday, December 23, 2011

Clothes as Autobiography




From one of my favorite books, The Thoughtful Dresser, by Linda Grant:

"If you were to gather together all the clothes you have ever owned in all your life. . . you would have your autobiography. As if the textile itself has memory, formed as it is out of its intimate closeness with our bodies, a coat or a dress or a pair of trousers is a witness to the fact that once we went for a job interview, or on a hot date. Or that we got married. . . The clothes we wear, they comfort and protect us; they allow us to be who we want to be. They tell others what we want them to hear. We come to understand whether or not we can depend on them."

I ponder quoting this passage when people tell me they don't care about clothes, or that it is superficial to like fashion. Our clothes do matter.


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