I don’t believe that fashion-makeover-show trope, If you haven’t worn it in two years, throw it out.
I may be making a massive rationalization for my over-stuffed closet. And over-stuffed dresser drawers. And my over-stuffed other closet. And, well, you get the picture.
But for every cry of, Holy shit, how is it possible I still have this Laura Ashley dress? Oh wait, I know – Rose can wear it someday! We can make pillowcases out of it or doll clothes or napkins or fancy silver-polishing rags! there’s another head-slapping moment of, Why did I sell that adorable little Tocca coat to Beacon’s Closet for 4 dollars? Why did I give away those J. Crew riding boots?
And for every plea of Jeff’s that starts, Do you think we can we get rid of … there are the smug, satisfied occasions that go like this: I am so glad I never threw out this little Brooks Brothers Barbour-style rain jacket (a treasured item from back in the day when there were only two Brooks stores in the world, the Madison Avenue location, and somewhere in Japan, and not like now in every mall and airport) that I sported freshman year in high school, because today is the perfect day to wear it (ok, can’t zip it, but it’s not really that cold, right?).
And that is what I’m wearing today – a Brooks Brothers boys size 20 olive-green Poland-made (whuh?) rain jacket with drawstring waist and tan and black and red plaid lining and a hood. It’s making me happy. Coming out of a childhood that wasn’t quite rooted, a little nomadic, slightly insecure, I think I treasure – even objectify – certain objects from my past as sort of half-baked family heirlooms, even if they’ve only ever belonged to me, and not handed down from previous generations like normal people’s family heirlooms.
And think about it, if they ever decide to revive Freaks and Geeks, which takes place exactly when I was a freshman in high school (see above, re coat), they can borrow it for some background character who’s neither freak nor geek, but a wanna be preppy-type like I was. I’ll need it back though. Family heirloom and all, you know.
This post chuffed me mightily. Because TODAY I happen to be wearing a flannel shirt I have had since high school and is in my top-five-shirts-of-all-time, living or dead. It is the shirt every single GF, whether it fit them or not, has struggled to steal. [And I am at heart gracious about having clothes stolen, but here I have always stood firm.] But now the fascinating part--the shirt is a Brooksgate which, ages ago, was a line that Brooks had marketed to young men, or maybe they called it junior executive. Basically slim cut, like so much today, but not back in the late 70s. It was short-lived, and Brooksgate suits now fetch a lot on eBay. In any event, the shirt is a real happy-maker. So thank you for it, Mom. And Kate I want that jacket.
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