Sentimental attachment
Recently I read a kind of smug feature article about women who pass on their 'vintage' clothes to their daughters. You know the scene -- Mummy was a model in the 1970's and she kept a wonderful pair of trousers she wore to some exclusive club in her wardrobe for the last thirty years. She goes away and has a perfect daughter who low and behold can fit in to the size two jeans that Mommy wore all those years ago. Even better they are back in style...blah, blah, blah.
As I was reading it I thought what type of person keeps clothes for thirty years to pass on to their children ?Wedding dresses I can see -- christening robes through the generations I can appreciate but a regular skirt, dress and so on. I just couldn't fathom it.
Then I really started to think about it and I realised that I still have a brown velvet dress dating back to 1994 which I wore in Greece around the same time as I met my now husband. Note to Olivia...1994 is twelve years ago. Bet it will still be in my closet in twenty years time.
I will never wear this dress again. It is out of fashion. It is covered in cigarette holes. I am probably about two stone (28 pounds) heavier. (Oh hell that sounds really bad!). Anyway, I think I keep this dress because it transports me in an instant to my 19 year old self.
I went to Crete with three of my friends to get a job for the summer. Well, that was the theory anyway. Turns out we went to one of the more authentic Greek islands where there isn't much of a tourist industry. We ran out of money after about two weeks and then lived on cheap chocolate baguettes for about another three weeks before we went home. Heaven knows how we scraped the money together to go in the first place but we did.
Now this little island didn't have much in the way of jobs but what it lacked in that department it made up for in the sailor and marine area. Americans were coming in in their hundreds to the port and there wasn't much in the way of women there. (Well besides the Greek women whose men were pretty possessive).
That month was the closest I ever got to being a supermodel. Here we were ordinary looking girls and we could pick and chose who we wanted. What fun! That said looking back on it we were all pretty innocent. It was more of a kiss and cuddle type scenario than anything else.
What I remember most about that time is the girly laughs. (Thank God my husband will never read this -- I am supposed to go on about falling in love etc). I have a vivid memory of falling off my seat with laughter when a marine called Forrest tried to chat my friend up. Doesn't sound funny now but at 19 with a couple of glasses of wine in you this is the stuff of hilarity.
Anyway, back to clothes...why do we keep things for so long when they are never going to see the light of day again? What is it with women and clothes? Let's face it there isn't a man alive who keeps a t shirt because he met his wife when he was wearing it. Men keep clothes because they are too lazy to throw them out. Women do so because it brings them back to a younger happier period. Often times we are delusional and think that if we lose that stone or two we will become our younger prettier selves.
So the brown dress is staying put in my wardrobe for now -- even if the silver hotpants from when I was 16 have finally made their way to the bin!!
As I was reading it I thought what type of person keeps clothes for thirty years to pass on to their children ?Wedding dresses I can see -- christening robes through the generations I can appreciate but a regular skirt, dress and so on. I just couldn't fathom it.
Then I really started to think about it and I realised that I still have a brown velvet dress dating back to 1994 which I wore in Greece around the same time as I met my now husband. Note to Olivia...1994 is twelve years ago. Bet it will still be in my closet in twenty years time.
I will never wear this dress again. It is out of fashion. It is covered in cigarette holes. I am probably about two stone (28 pounds) heavier. (Oh hell that sounds really bad!). Anyway, I think I keep this dress because it transports me in an instant to my 19 year old self.
I went to Crete with three of my friends to get a job for the summer. Well, that was the theory anyway. Turns out we went to one of the more authentic Greek islands where there isn't much of a tourist industry. We ran out of money after about two weeks and then lived on cheap chocolate baguettes for about another three weeks before we went home. Heaven knows how we scraped the money together to go in the first place but we did.
Now this little island didn't have much in the way of jobs but what it lacked in that department it made up for in the sailor and marine area. Americans were coming in in their hundreds to the port and there wasn't much in the way of women there. (Well besides the Greek women whose men were pretty possessive).
That month was the closest I ever got to being a supermodel. Here we were ordinary looking girls and we could pick and chose who we wanted. What fun! That said looking back on it we were all pretty innocent. It was more of a kiss and cuddle type scenario than anything else.
What I remember most about that time is the girly laughs. (Thank God my husband will never read this -- I am supposed to go on about falling in love etc). I have a vivid memory of falling off my seat with laughter when a marine called Forrest tried to chat my friend up. Doesn't sound funny now but at 19 with a couple of glasses of wine in you this is the stuff of hilarity.
Anyway, back to clothes...why do we keep things for so long when they are never going to see the light of day again? What is it with women and clothes? Let's face it there isn't a man alive who keeps a t shirt because he met his wife when he was wearing it. Men keep clothes because they are too lazy to throw them out. Women do so because it brings them back to a younger happier period. Often times we are delusional and think that if we lose that stone or two we will become our younger prettier selves.
So the brown dress is staying put in my wardrobe for now -- even if the silver hotpants from when I was 16 have finally made their way to the bin!!
posted by cara at 1:44 PM
3 Comments:
My mother used to make all of her clothes in the 50s and she kept most of her gorgeous party dresses because people dressed up a lot more then. And clothes were made to last, not like the ones you buy from chain stores now.
I can't think of any clothes I will be keeping for my girls ... maybe a coat or two, but I try to do regular wardrobe purges :)
Your visit to Greece sounds wonderful!! So many men to choose from ;)
I own several concert tees I could never part with, one sweater that belonged to my Dad that I confiscated in the 80s, my Grandmother's wedding dress and recently (two weeks ago) the jumper I was wearing when I met Dan found it's way from my mother's house to mine.
How odd you would post this after the return of my jumper. I even showed it to Jennie last time she was over telling her about it's importance. Funny how the universe keeps us on the same page all the way accross an ocean sometimes.
I would give money for you to post a pic of yourself wearing silver hot pants!
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