From Wearing Off to Wearing On: The Meanders of Wearer–Clothing Relationships
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Methods
3. Reframing Our Love for Clothes
3.1. Durability as a Human Intention
3.2. Wearers’ Attachment to Clothes
3.3. Wearers’ Relationship with Clothes
There is something about the fit of a one-piece swimsuit—the way it hugs the stomach, hips, groin, and heart—that is akin to swaddling. I feel safe in a swimsuit, like nothing is going to fall out or get out of control…—Lenae (p. 277).
4. The Things That Our Love for Clothes Is Made of
4.1. The Components of Wearer–Clothing Relationships
Once my dad gave me this very furry Elmo-ish red chenille sweater. It was hideous, but I knew he had tried, and when I opened the box, I just cried because it was so ugly and I felt so bad for hating it.—Ariel (p. 480).
Once I needed a new coat and [my sister and I] went out together and she helped me find a good one. It was the most expensive item I ever bought, $130, on the sale rack at Macy’s. I wore this wool coat every winter day for years and, maybe this is lame, I cried when it got moth holes.—Mairead (p. 287).
I finally bought a new winter coat, after six years of wearing my old one. I found the old coat in a lost-and-found bin at a fancy restaurant where I worked as a hostess, and I spent weeks painstakingly altering it to meet the standards I had for beauty (sewing patches of floral silk onto the edges, painting a pattern with acrylics onto the back, even trimming the fur hood with mink pelts, and sewing in small jewels in geometric patterns). Over the years, I stopped feeling that these adornments had anything to do with me, and every time I put on the coat I kind of cringed, though I could barely admit to betraying my former self.—Sasha (pp. 250–251).
I once found this little girl’s dress, and having fallen in love with it, I took it to a seamstress who has a shop in Kensington Market (…). I had fabric added to it so I could fit into it. Years later, when I weighed less and lived in Buenos Aires, I took it to a costurera from Armenia (…) and had some fabric removed. It goes without saying that it’s my favorite dress.—Clare (p. 251).
When I got home I washed the dress, then put it straight back on. I wore it the next day to get an ice cream with a friend. And the day after that, to a show in Brooklyn and a late dinner. On both of these occasions I felt good. The good of knowing I had on something that was attractive to me.—Leanne (p. 434).
When I opened the box and saw Dress 3 staring up at me, tears came into my eyes. (…) I wore it everywhere, at least three days a week. And when I finally started dating, I wore it for dates. I was wearing it when I ran into my ex and his new girlfriend. I was wearing it when I had my first kiss with the guy to whom I would later become engaged, and also when I first met his family. It never failed me.—Sadie (p. 60).
People say, “I love your shirt.” I thank them and sometimes proudly add, “I made it myself.” Ten years on, it’s still the best-loved thing in my wardrobe. It’s my go-to for formal and semiformal events, costume parties, and on days when everything about my body screams wrongness. When I made it, I had no idea how important it would become.—Hel (p. 250).
A week and a half later, after thinking about the dress in an abstract way on a regular basis, I (…) bought it.—Leanne (p. 434).
By this time [fifth day of possession and wear] the dress felt like part of me. I’d forgotten about it, which I took to be a sign of its true integration into my wardrobe.—Leanne (p. 438).
4.2. The Dynamics of Wearer–Clothing Relationships
The first time I wore it [my favourite dress], I interviewed one of my musical heroes, and he complimented both the interview and the dress. Another time I wore it the first time I was in the same room as a guy I ended up dating. Later he recognized me because of the dress…—Miranda (p. 328).
I had a yellow sundress in my late teens that I wore every warm New England day for probably three years. I remember going on a very long bike ride to a friend’s wedding in a park and collapsing on the ground when I finally arrived. I landed under a tree that shed staining berries, and later spent hours sewing heart-shaped patches of silk onto every smudge since I didn’t know how to do laundry effectively. I was in a band then, and in every picture I have of our summer tour, I’m wearing that dress.—Sasha (p. 148).
Last week, I gave so many clothes away to my maid for her daughters as I couldn’t afford to just look at them sitting unused in my closet, making me feel miserable and helpless and without any control over the basic right and freedom to wear what I want, when I want.—Farah (p. 427).
I saw a dress on a woman at a party and wanted it for myself. It was a long, printed dress. It looked comfortable and light and cool and inscrutably chic. (…) I did something that surprised me: I leaned down and picked up the edge of her skirt and touched it, marvelling aloud at the light, smooth fabric. I have never touched another woman’s dress like that before (…) I never had that grasping, clutching impulse.—Leanne (p. 433).
Gill gave me this suit because it didn’t fit her anymore. The skirt was really long, grandma-y, and actually I didn’t like it that much, but when I tried it on I thought I looked good in it and I liked it and have actually worn it quite a lot.—Pamela (pp. 317–318).
Here’s some Celine jeans that I wanted so badly and I thought they looked great in the dressing room, but I’ve just never liked how they looked.—Kerry (p. 95).
My grandmother gave me cashmere sweaters from Costco. In college, I would wear them every Friday, when I was most tired, because they were so comfortable, yet they would still make me feel put-together and sophisticated.—Catherine (p. 147).
I had this dress the way I liked it, and when I would go to get dressed, over and over again it was what I wanted to wear. And over the next five, six, ten years, this was the go-to dress that made me feel so comfortable I never had to think about how I was going to look or what to wear with it.—Michele (p. 407).
I wore the dress every chance I got. I wore it to parties and lectures—whenever I need to feel pretty or adult or confident. (…) Being cheap, the dress soon showed the effects of wear, and its sleek lines were marred by the lumpy proof of my inexpert repairs. But its magic, to me, remained undimmed.—Sadie (p. 59).
I had a lovely green batik silk dress with puffy sleeves and a black trim that I paid a bit for. I was once at a party where there was a lot of dancing and I was being thrown around the dance floor and one of the sleeves ripped off. I tried to make it a strapless number by removing both sleeves, but the dress was never quite the same.—Tishani (p. 149).
That one I bought in a market in Italy. (…) I wore it once. It’s got horses on it, so I wore it when I went to an evening that was about horses—about horse racing. I’ve never wore it since, because another friend said, ‘Oh, you can wear that when you’re ninety.’ That put me off.—Pamela (p. 317).
Dress 2, in short, made me feel like a million bucks. Then one day my boss showed up at work and, after casually saying “I have a new dress”, removed her coat to reveal… Dress 2. Albeit on a taller and more stunning frame. I was dumbfounded and hurt. I retired Dress 2 and got another job.—Sadie (p. 59).
I bought this beautiful dress once, hoping to wear it for a special occasion with the person I loved, but then he stopped loving me before we had an occasion to go to. Every time I opened the closet and I saw this dress, I was reminded that I wasn’t loved and the occasion I was waiting for never happened. So I threw it away.—Souvankham (p. 319).
I had this embroidered purple shawl that my mother bought me on a trip to Copper Canyon, Mexico. An old roommate borrowed it without asking, and later admitted that it had been stolen at a bar. (…) It had been an accident, but I felt sorry for myself. I would have liked to participate in the item’s fate. At the very least, I wanted to be the person who lost it.—Elena (p. 493).
When I was six or seven I had this Batman outfit and I would wear these black high-heeled boots that my mother didn’t wear anymore. I adored them.(…) Then one day I couldn’t find them and my mom told me she had thrown them out and it broke my heart.—Sherwin (p. 155).
4.3. The Dimensions of Wearer–Clothing Relationship Experiences
4.3.1. Interaction
4.3.2. Perception
There was this peachy sweatshirt I adored (…) it was comfortable and worn. It was a gift from my mom’s friend Terry. She was so cool, and that coolness extended to this sweatshirt.—Allison (p. 148).
After I finished my first marathon in 2000, I wore the finisher t-shirt as a nightshirt for about a month. I rediscovered the shirt in August as I was training for my tenth marathon, which also was my first one in five years. I wore it to sleep every night for about a month before the marathon, to remember that first one and to inspire and psych up myself.—Himanee (p. 133).
4.3.3. Emotion
5. Discussion
The unpredictability of clothes, the ways in which they misbehave, sometimes in collusion with our bodies, continually surprises us. We cannot take their ‘performance’ for granted; we need to build a robust relationship with them, get to know them well and understand their eccentricities. And, as in all relationships, we need to work at it. Building up a reliable set of clothes involves expending not just money and time but real energy and almost an emotional commitment[41] (p. 4).
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Neto, A.; Ferreira, J. From Wearing Off to Wearing On: The Meanders of Wearer–Clothing Relationships. Sustainability 2020, 12, 7264. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187264
Neto A, Ferreira J. From Wearing Off to Wearing On: The Meanders of Wearer–Clothing Relationships. Sustainability. 2020; 12(18):7264. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187264
Chicago/Turabian StyleNeto, Ana, and João Ferreira. 2020. "From Wearing Off to Wearing On: The Meanders of Wearer–Clothing Relationships" Sustainability 12, no. 18: 7264. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187264
APA StyleNeto, A., & Ferreira, J. (2020). From Wearing Off to Wearing On: The Meanders of Wearer–Clothing Relationships. Sustainability, 12(18), 7264. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187264