All The Clothes I've Loved Before

I cleaned out my closet and drawers yesterday and purged a bunch of clothing that I never wear. I really forced myself to make some hard cuts. I tried on a lot of clothes that haven't seen the light of day in ages and then critiqued them in the mirror, asking myself "Will I ever wear this again? Or have I been hanging on to it for sentimental reasons?"

I don't know about you, but I find it's amazing the stuff I hang on to.

Here are a few of the things I'll be passing along to Value Village this week....

-- A groovy blue dress I purchased at a store aptly called "Everything $15" while on a high school art and photography trip to New York City. I was 17 and the dress fit like a glove - actually, surprisingly enough it still fits pretty well, despite the fact that it's become worn out and faded in places - mainly beneath the armpits. :P I still love its funky retro design of blue and brown boxes. However, even though Jim said that he thought it still looked cute on me, he felt that it kinda looks like something the maid on the Brady Bunch would wear.

Point taken.

The dress is my only remaining memento of that trip - which is probably why I've clung to it for so long. You see, I opted to go shopping with a couple other girls instead of watching Miss Saigon on Broadway with the rest of the class. I decided that I would see a Broadway play the next time I was in NYC, because I was sure I would return.  (Thirteen years later and it has yet to happen...)

I still remember how the change room was humid and smelly, with only a curtain for a door that barely separated the communal sweat box from the rest of the store. Yes, I said "communal".  I had to share the room with at least a dozen other women. Self-conscious gal that I was, I tried the dress on as modestly as I could manage. Yup, this is the path I chose - sharing a smelly change room in the "Everything $15" store, instead of watching a classic Broadway play.

Do I regret it?

Believe it or not, I don't. I'll get back to NYC someday, and besides, I really loved that dress and definitely got my $15 worth. Ha. Not to mention, a short while later the girls and I ran into Bruce Willis and his daughter Rumor taking a stroll through Times Square. That has to count for something, right?

-- A tan swede-like dress, which I wore to my college awards ceremony. That night I was awarded the Advertising Advisory Committee award, which was a pretty cool honour, and, the biggest award of the evening - the one I had my eye on since I first saw it sitting on the shelf in my Prof's office - the crystal Eagle Has Landed Award of Excellence.

It was such an exciting night for me, and at the time, it was easily one of the best nights of my life. Now the awards sit on a shelf collecting dust, as does the dress in my closet.

- A royal blue bridesmaid dress I wore at my friend Amanda's wedding about 8 years ago. I must admit, it's definitely one of the prettiest dresses I've worn - Thankfully! I'd be choked if I had to spend that kind of coin on something hideous. Of course, hideous or not, it wouldn't matter, I'd still only get to wear it once, aside from the million fittings I had to go to....

Y'see, Fairweather didn't make the dress in my size, (I guess I was pretty skinny that year - not eating disorder thin - but still kinda bony), so I had to visit a seamstress to get it custom-made. It was the first dress that I've ever had made to fit... and cost about half as much as my own wedding gown. Again, I think this is why I've hung on to it for so long. I couldn't bear to spend hundreds of dollars on a dress and never wear it again. But tis the short-lived fate of all bridesmaid dresses, and needless to say, it's obviously taking up valuable closet real estate. And of course, even if I wanted to wear it again, the zipper refuses to hike up that last inch or two... no matter how much I suck in. ;)

-- From the same era as the bridesmaid dress, I'm also purging a pair of shiny black dress pants. One year for Christmas, my boss at Words at Work Advertising gave me a gift certificate to the mall, so I bought a long blue nightgown and those shiny black pants. I loved them. Still do. Unfortunately, even though the pants continue to be in great shape, I am not.

Then again, like I was saying, that was the same year I was "too skinny"... at least according to my parents, anyway. But I was working at the ad agency during the day and waitressing at a pub at night - so maybe that's why I was too thin? Perhaps I was working too much? I also ate a LOT of junk food that year.... so maybe I was malnourished or somethin'? Honestly, my four basic food groups that year consisted of pizza, chips, chocolate and ice cream. *shudder*

-- A pair of fitted overalls. This was probably the first outfit I owned that required a little tender love n' care, because the inside was made of different material than the outside, and the girl at the store told me it would shrink if put in a dryer. While this fact is totally not a big deal to me these days, at the time (again, about 8 - 10 years ago?), I recoiled at the thought of something being that high maintenance. (Yes, separating laundry before tossing it into a dryer was very high maintenance to me.)

I've never been one to buy expensive brand name clothing, but I simply fell in looove with these nifty pants and so I waited until they were on sale. Then when I tried them on, one of the buttons fell off. The clerk said that's because you're supposed to adjust them yourself when you get home... but I didn't care for her explanation so I asked for a discount... and got one!

While I still think they look cute n' funky, I feel like I'm getting a little old to be wearing overalls that hug like a catsuit.

- A black and white striped dress shirt. I bought it at Fairweather, which is obviously a woman's store... but after only wearing it once or twice, one day I came to work and saw that Nick was wearing the exact. same. shirt. His was from a different store of course, but the print was identical. I've never worn it since. I mean, how embarrassing would that be if we had ever worn it on the same day! Ha ha. Plus, now any time I look at it, I can only see a man's shirt. Oh well, I've never been much of a button-up dress shirt kinda girl anyway.

- I used to shop in a store called "Balta" which brought in clothing and objects from all over the world. I purchased a few items there back in the day and actually still wear the orange summer dress I bought. However, I felt that it's finally time I surrender the handmade purple shirt with the elaborate embroidery around the collar of psychedelic-looking mushrooms blasting off into space. *sigh* It really is something to be seen (if not worn.)

Ah, but I could go on and on (and on and on) about all the different clothes I'm purging and the reasons I've hung on to them for so long, but instead of writing about them, I should stop boring you and finish my cleaning n' get on with my day.