Well, not exactly... but clothing and fashion can transport you to a memory in life that you thought you had forgotten or a memory that makes you feel all warm inside and makes your cheeks hurt because you can't stop smiling. That's the affect that memories can have on a person.
Clothing can give you a feeling of nostalgia from your youth or certain styles that you see celebrities wearing in movies, such as Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffanies which is an all time favourite movie of mine (Jenkins 2020). Audrey wears such a simple black dress paired with sunglasses and a sleek up-do, however that little black dress in timeless and perfect for any event so many are inspired by her style. The fashion industry a lot of the time uses nostalgia to sell clothing to consumers, for example in a Gap campaign they used Audrey Hepburn from the movie "Funny Faces" to sell their black pants. Since she was and still is such an iconic figure to many, she is such an important part of the collective memory of fashion so many with feel something when they see her promoting these black pants in a Gap ad (Jenkins 2020).
Source: Pinterest. Accessed November 25, 2020. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/people/audrey-hepburn-style-icon-best-looks1/audrey-hepburn-funny-face0/
Time Travel Clothing
For me certain pieces of clothing is like time travelling back to a certain memory, going back to a specific moment and remembering how that experience made you feel. This can happen when we wear garments that mean so much to us, it can be almost like a "second skin" (Jenkins 2020). Many do not realize the importance of clothing and how it provides us with these amazing tangible memories that are almost frozen in time until you pick up that piece of clothing again. I know personally for myself when I look back at old photos of when I was younger at my grandparents house all these memories start coming back to me just by looking at a certain outfit. When actually physically holding a specific piece of clothing the memory is even stronger, even vivid. It always makes me smile when people talk about moments in their past because clothing plays such an important role within those memories. Within Professor Jenkins' lecture for week 10 she talked about an important element to clothing that I will always remember: " cloth is able to carry the absent body, memory, genealogy, as well as literal material value" (Jenkins 2020). Professor Jenkins directly quoted this line from Peter Stallybrass within the lecture, this was a point that really stuck with me as I thought about pieces of clothing that were important in my own life. Instantly I knew I wanted to interview my family members and close friends about what pieces of clothing that are important to them and the memories attached to the garment.
" Bodies come and go, the clothes which have received those bodies survive...receive human imprint" - Peter Stallybrass
References
Jenkins, Kimberly. " What Fashion Makes Possible." FSN 223: Fashion Theory. Class Lecture at Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, November 17, 2020.
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