The opinions expressed on this article are the author’s personal and don’t mirror the views of Her Campus.
This text is written by a scholar author from the Her Campus at St. Andrews chapter.
There’s a photograph of my mother within the ‘90s carrying a checkered navy blue and aqua minidress. With wind blowing by her permed hair, she’s laughing, wanting younger and carefree. That costume, a classic GAP relic designed in a Nineteen Sixties silhouette, now hangs in my closet, ready to be worn each summer season.
I put on it to brunches with buddies, days spent with my grandma within the vineyards of Napa, and through my travels overseas. After I put on the costume, I’m wondering how my mother felt when she wore it. The material is mushy, well-loved, and barely light, nevertheless it nonetheless carries my mother’s power and creates a bridge between us.
Clothes is considered frivolous, however for ladies it’s extra than simply material or tendencies; it’s a manner of remembering and belonging. Hand-me-downs particularly inform tales in ways in which brand-new garments can’t.
Psychologists and style historians acknowledge the emotional significance of inherited clothes. In keeping with Dr. Karen Pine, a specialist in clothes identification, “garments usually are not only for retaining heat or masking our our bodies. They affect how we really feel, assume, and behave.” We wrap ourselves in recollections after we put on one thing that after belonged to another person, corresponding to our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, or closest buddies.
Rising up, I borrowed from my mother’s closet earlier than I had my sense of non-public model. Over time, I realised carrying her garments made me really feel near her, as if I may perceive her higher and carry a chunk of her with me.
This connection isn’t restricted to household heirlooms. With my buddies from residence, clothes swaps have been a typical incidence. I introduced my pal’s discarded Brandy Melville tank prime to Scotland, and he or she held onto my favourite Patagonia fleece for some time. After I put on that prime, I don’t simply consider the garment itself; I consider her, the moments we spent collectively, and the locations we’ve been.
Certainly one of my buddies, a style scholar, loves to examine my closet at any time when she visits. She’ll run her fingers over my classic garments, analysing the period and magnificence and imagining the clothes’ lives earlier than they attain me.
Whether or not it’s an inherited costume, a swapped sweater, or a thrifted jacket, clothes holds recollections. These items change into woven into our identities, shaping how we stock ourselves and join with those that wore them earlier than us. After we swap and share items, we trade experiences, nostalgia, and a way of connection lengthy after the garments have modified palms.
