I confess I am not a great fan of autobiographies that begin at the beginning and follow a temporal path up to the present day – not that the person might not have some interesting stories, facts and opinions strung on their necklace, but it just doesn’t appeal as a structure. On the other hand, in my last, extra year at school in Oxford, retaking an A-level and adding a couple more, I was allowed out of school on my recognisance and saw a fascinating Exhibition at the Modern Art Gallery. The Artist had laid out and photographed every single possession of a single person – for example, all the cutlery was laid out in one shot, all the shoes in another. This more thematic approach appeals more and although I am not arranging the objects which I have chosen to tell my story in chronological order, I hope that my writing will be sufficiently interesting to keep your interest Dear Reader, and that on the journey from A to Z, you will assemble an impression of my life and who I am…
I am a keeper! No, not that sort of keeper! I keep things I like – for a long time! Its not that I’m miserly about buying new clothes, if I was rich, ! would certainly indulge in buying new clothes, though not fashionable clothes per se, but distinctive, unique clothes – but I am not, so I don’t! When I was at school, my mother bought me sturdy, sensible clothes that would last and unable to dress as fashionably as my contemporaries, I made a virtue of being unfashionable. Besides, fashionable clothes are made less well in the rush to get them out at a tempting price – even more so for ladies’ clothes. Men’s clothes are generally slightly better made and last longer accordingly… I am jealous of the flamboyance of women’s clothes vis-à-vis mens’, are we not one of the few species where men are dowdy and do not have to win our mates with a display of finery?
I read some tips on preserving your clothes, the most useful of which was not to wash more frequently than needed and to close all zips and main buttons when washing…
Vintage clothes have become big business, and several of my grandsons helped pay their way through university by buying individual clothes from charity shops or buying secondhand in bulk online and then reselling them online. When my partner worked in a local charity shop, she regularly used her staff discount to buy shirts for me so that it is only in recent years that I have bought the occasional brand new shirt. I also look out for shirts I could embellish with brighter fabrics – I did do an evening class in dressmaking.
Spin Cycle
Separate whites from coloureds
conventional wisdom has it
but my clothes are so old
there’s no possibility of
dye displacement
I am a keeper
– I have T-shirts
forty years old
faded a little
but not turned pink
I use conventional wisdom
when washing something new
© Andrew Wilson, 2024
Are you aware of the Visible Mending movement? With your love of needlecraft, it’s right up your alley. Big group on Instagram, there is a yearly challenge in March hosted by “Dr Mend” Kate Sekules. https://www.instagram.com/visiblemend/
Here’s my compilation of my 2025 posts: https://spygirl-amb.blogspot.com/2025/04/mendmarch-2025.html
What a wonderful site, thanks for introducing me to it Anne, I am in awe of yours and those on it’s potput of mending and I think it will be an inspiration to more frequent forays into inspired mending! Actually I have put one more picture on the post, I couldn’t find the shirt in question in time because it had slipped behind a chest of drawers. A shirt repaired with Kaffe Fassett fabric at collar and cuffs…
I never had a lot of money to spend on clothes and was always near the end of the fashion cycle before I would buy into the trend. Now in my late 70s, I’ve moved to 95% natural fabrics with 85% of that being merino wool (which is so NOT the wool of the past). I dress for comfort now.
Donna: Click for my 2025 A-Z Blog
You’re correct about vintage clothing being a big thing right now! I go to the Goodwill Outlet store often, not for resale items, just for myself. The new bins come out and the resellers swarm them!
I hadn’t realised reselling was such a big thing till I saw what my grandsons were doing. I would love to have a workaday kimono and am thinking about ordering a bulk pack and reselling what I don’t want…
Alas, the increase from my weight when working (55kg) to retirement (nearly 70kg) has meant that most old T-shirts have had to be disposed of. However, my “summer” sweatshirt is still the one I had from working on “Song and Dance” at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1990.
We have all ballooned somewhat from our “fighting” weights – I used to be 31.5 stone – now 16! I guess I probably need to turn out a couple of the tighter shirts in my wardrobe…
I don’t hunt down vintage or peruse op shops as they rarely have what I want or need, however, I do wear what I purchase for a long time. My days of dressmaking are long in the past.
I have a little fantasy that if the world calms down a bit or I cease to care enough – I might write less and dressmake/ alter clothes more…
I love your vintage clothing and the stories behind them. My mother was a milliner and had very specific sewing skills, but alas, they weren’t passed on. The Visible Mending movement, as Anne said, is a delight. I wear lots of what my friends, with varying levels of kindness and disdain, call “arty.” But I truly love what Gilda Radner said: “I base most of my fashion taste on what doesn’t itch.” A very good criterion, don’t you agree?
An excellent criteria, I am lucky, too, not to be afflicted by my mother’s allergy to wool…
I’m not a fan of shopping for new clothes either and have been using some of the same clothing for about 20 years. Some of my newer clothing were gifts from people which still have their tags on sometimes