My Worn Story

On April 1st, Netflix launched a new docuseries called Worn Stories. Based on two books by Emily Spivack – Worn Stories and Worn in New York – each episode in the series dives into a different theme: “There are the clothes we wear at the beginning of our lives, for example, and then there are the clothes we wear to memorialize those we’ve lost” (Petrarca, 2021, para. 3). The episodes intend to tell the stories behind the pieces of clothing that we keep. If you’re interested, check out the trailer below for a peek into the series.

What we wear says so much about who we are, who we want to be and what we want others to think of us. Clothing can be comfort. It can be body armor. It can be celebratory and expressive. It reflects our mood, our personality, our political affiliations, our social causes, our favorite movies, celebrities, authors, characters and more. It’s one of the first things that the world sees of us each and every day; and, oftentimes, it holds such sentimentality. Like a picture, we hold on to certain pieces of clothing for the meaning and memories stitched into their seams. Worn Stories had me asking myself the question: What’s a piece of clothing still in my possession that means something special to me?

I searched and searched for pictures of myself in this special piece of clothing, but I couldn’t find many at all; but then I realized, it’s not the piece of clothing of which you take pictures. My special piece of clothing is a sweatshirt. A light blue Tri Delta sweatshirt from Wake Forest University. I got it my freshmen year of college right after I joined my sorority. It’s a size XL and the minute I got it, I took a pair of scissors to the band at the bottom and cut it up to fit just right. I don’t have pictures of this sweatshirt because it’s the piece of clothing worn for all the in-between moments – not the picture moments, but the truly special moments. It’s cuddled up in my tiny dorm room bed with all my best friends watching movies. It’s long nights in the ZSR Starbucks doing the last edits on a final paper. It’s Saturday morning runs to Bagel Station and afternoon lunches at Dioli’s. It’s weekly picnics on the quad when the weather was just perfect. Its sleeves are stained with tears shed from break-ups and fights, nights missing home and questioning myself. It’s tattered and torn with self-made thumb holes after years and years of wear. It’s the first thing my friends put on when they come to visit me and still my very favorite thing to sleep in at night. That raggedy, old sweatshirt represents four of the best years of my life. It feels like home to me. Never could I ever throw that sweatshirt away. For the rest of my life, it will be washed and rewashed then worn and worn again.

“Is Green the New Black” focuses on the relationship between fashion and sustainability. I have not one single clue what my Tri Delta sweatshirt is made of and I don’t know what its impact was on the environment. What I do know is that nothing could ever replace that sweatshirt. For six years now, that sweatshirt has been my most favorite and most worn piece of clothing. Sustainability doesn’t always have to mean “environmental impact,” it can also mean a piece of clothing that has sustained in your life.

So – what’s a piece of clothing still in your possession that means something special to you?

Bye for now,

McGee