Stylebook Book Club - Book 10
This month’s book is Worn Stories by Emily Spivack, a series of short essays in which various people recount memories tied to items of clothing in their wardrobe. It was fun to read about people with lives so different from my own and which clothes are important to them. Memory is a funny thing, sometimes we remember experiences based on sounds, smells and in some cases, clothes. As the co-creator of an app that is designed to help people record their outfits, I feel especially connected to this idea. Stylebook’s outfit calendar becomes kind of like a diary over time as you enter information about various events on each date, which is fun to look back on.
I really enjoyed reading about the memories tied to various clothes in the wardrobes of actors, writers and artists. It makes me wonder about my current wardrobe. What will these pieces remind me of later in life? Maybe summer afternoons at the #princetonparklet.
- Jess Atkins, Stylebook Co-founder
Jess's Take-Away and Discussion
I loved this book so much. After reading the book, I thought about my own closet and what clothes I have been saving but don’t wear. One of those items is my cheerleading varsity jacket.
I was never a sports enthusiast, but in high school I wound up making it onto the cheerleading squad because I couldn’t hack it on the swim team. I embarrassed myself by almost drowning at a swim meet and decided cheerleading was safer. When I made the JV squad, I was able to order a varsity jacket. My childhood best friend was ordering her field hockey varsity jacket at the same time and we were obsessed with the oversized “boyfriend” look. Our jackets were probably two sizes bigger than they should have been, but we were convinced the oversized look made us look cuter. My mom and the salesperson tried to talk us out of it, but we wouldn’t change our minds. I guess the logic was the bigger the jacket, the smaller we looked.
At the time, we were already wearing huge hockey jackets on a regular basis, despite never watching a single hockey game. I’m not sure about our motivations, but I pulled the varsity jacket out of the closet this week and laughed. It’s like wearing a leather blanket, and it brings back so many memories! I can’t believe I wore my cheerleading uniform to school every game day and decorated football players' lockers. My friends and I broke up, but this reminds me of how much fun we had from third grade all the way until college. It seems like a different universe to me now.
Discussion:
Comment on the Instagram post below to tell me the most helpful tip you learned from the book.
- What clothes spark memories for you?
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