I was getting dressed today and I noticed something in the back of my closet. Okay, so perhaps the only reason I noticed it was the fact I haven’t done laundry in a while. Regardless, the item in question is a shirt. A sort of faded plaid button up shirt. Not just any shirt mind you, but my favourite shirt from… ==cough==… high school. And, well, technically from middle school as well.
Yes, this shirt is at least 12 years old.
So, simply out of nostalgia–and the fact I probably won’t be leaving the house today–I slipped it on and have been wearing it all day. Yes, something I got around age 14 still fits (let’s not forget that we wore things baggy back then, and now this shirt fits almost too well). Not only does it fit, but I came to the startling realisation that it’s almost fashionable again. I’ve recently seen hip-looking fellows wearing similar patterns, albeit with slightly different colours.
I was a bit taken aback when I noticed. I started to think about how cyclical tastes and trends are, how fashion and design tend to repeat themselves, albeit with minor variations. Then my mind sprouted a troubling thought: Maybe I should have held onto more of my old clothes? I can hear my mother cringing now…
This thought was quickly squashed by a dip into my mental archives, which produced very vivid imagery of the paisley polo shirt I wore around the same time, and–I’m shuddering as this image pops back in my head–the lilac t-shirt featuring a stunning tableau of forest and wolves. I’m not kidding. I had that shirt until I was 16.
Perhaps what we can cull from this experience is that while some designs are timeless and worth recalling with fondness, quite a few others deserve to be relegated to the trash bin, never to be spoken of again.
+As per “Dave’s”:http://davejeffery.com request… pictorial proof of the shirt:+
p(note). I have an extremely yellow lamp in my front room / office, making colour correction a pain in the ass…
You know what would compliment this story very well? A photo! 😀
Wow, Rather dashing, I must say. Thanks for obliging me. The yellow gives the photo a kind of worn sepia look, all adds to the nostalgic feeling. Ah, the good old days…
Wow. I don’t think I have anything in my closet older than 2 years (maybe). I get bored with clothes and they go straight to my sister, or the DI.
BUT, I like going shopping at the DI for clothes that are from someone elses closet that are over 2 years old.
So April is your donation bin, Ash?