I So Love This Dress: A Fabric Metaphor

So this dress. I love it. Obviously, since I am writing a post about it. I bought it over the summer in anticipation of my trip to the east coast cold and an event that I just went to a week ago. And now, as I head to my west coast home the weather will start to turn into cooler nights so I can wear it still. So this is really good. Because I really love my clothes. How much, you ask? Allow me to explain. But first, a bit of info to set the stage, so you get the full picture...

I am not a particularly neat or organized person. And I do not keep a very clean house. It's not like gross dirty, but I don't vacuum a lot. And I never dust. Well, not never, but like maybe once every few months. You know, when it really needs it. And I tend to stack in the sink which is why I also tend to eat standing up and right out of the - for example - peanut butter jar and then jelly jar with a spoon rather than make an actual peanut butter and jelly sandwich as this creates less to clean up which means less in the sink stack. 

My papers are in one big pile that I then go through after a while and sort - those I need go in a new pile and those I don't go in the trash. The new pile then sits around for a while until I sort it again and finally put what I think I need to hold onto in a drawer. Eventually I go through the drawer...

I could go on but I'm guessing you're getting the picture here...

But there is one place where I am - and I do not use this word lightly (there is a joke here but I can't quite put it together) - anal about organization and cleanliness: My Closet.  Notice the capitals at the beginning of My and the beginning of Closet. This is a mark of honor and respect. My Closet is my safe place. It is also my art gallery. My Clothes and My shoes are art.  Truly.

You think I am kidding but I really am not. 

I honestly do not remember when I first starting seeing clothing this way. But I have dresses that I've had since my son was a baby and so we are talking about - at least - twenty- six years now. And these dresses  - and coats and tops and pants, and shoes ah shoes we cannot forget those - they are more than just their function. Fabric and design, texture and line, drape and form - this fills me. It is why I buy what I buy and why so many pieces that I have found over the years I have still. 

Of course there are some things that I don't hang on to for as long as the lives of my children. Some pieces, though still art, are more a poster than a masterpiece. This dress may be that. This dress you see above. I love this dress. I got it at Free People in case you are wondering. I LOVE Free People. When I first discovered this store I was like ​someone is finally making the clothing that I have been ripping my own clothing up and resewing so that I have have this. In other words, I was ecstatic. To the point that I went and worked for them, only part time since I was lawyering at the time but it was so great because I got a discount and me and my daughters got to go a bit crazy and buy A LOT of clothing.  

Ok, back to this dress. I like that there is a piece that was bought for my temporary life in Massachusetts that transcends my time there. And so this dress has become symbolic. A fabric metaphor of all the pieces that I layered on my skin, my heart, my soul and my spirit while I was away from home and which I can bring back with me because they will work for me still.

Perhaps this is why the dress fits so well.