Weekend Edition #39: Clothes to Remember
Reflecting on how clothes create memories, as we turn the page on another year.
Hello!
I hope you all are happily settled into your post-Christmas, third-night-of-Hanukkah, pre-New Year’s sweatpants and a Really Good Sweater™ (c/o
). For this is never-never land week. It’s the time between the two holidays when we can revert to our most basic childhood needs: food, naps, sunshine (if you’re somewhere warm), warm beverages (if you’re somewhere cold), favorite tees (perhaps long stored in an old dresser), and Cheetos (just me?). We don’t have to grow up this week. We don’t even have to be the grown-ups (that’s what the grandparents are for).
Last week, I made a few fashion predictions for the year ahead. Thank you for all your amazing comments and welcome to all the new readers! I am thrilled to talk all things Fashion with you in 2025.
But this week, I’m nostalgic. (Can you tell?) And I’m glancing in the rearview mirror, which I try not to do all that much. (I’m usually too busy thinking constantly, too much, about the future.1)
It started when we arrived out west to visit my husband’s family, something we do every Christmas. I hauled out the ski bags (skiing is a sport of stuff, and we’ve got a lot of it), and I realized my youngest son is now wearing my oldest’s gear. As I helped him pull on the neon snow pants and zip up the matching jacket, I remembered my older boys wearing the same kit, snowplowing down the bunny slope. Now the oldest takes the tram to the tippy top (and not just to eat the waffles).
Where does the time go?
Ski clothes must be functional and good gear should last a long time.2 Which means the clothes become part of the ritual. The memories are folded with the wool socks.
A few days ago, Liana Satenstein, who writes
, posted that it was the 25th anniversary of this chunky striped Gap sweater and matching hat and scarf:
Her post stopped my scroll, because I had that sweater. And the scarf. Possibly the hat, too? I was immediately transported back to Hanukkah, sitting on the mottled (actually kind of mocha mousse-y) Y2K living room carpet where I opened that glossy navy blue box from my parents to reveal the cornucopia of color within.
The sheer joy from a sweater that I hadn’t thought about in years came back to me as if I’d worn it yesterday.
You know what else instantly ignites that feeling for me?
You too?
I think I can trace most of my current personal style back to Delia’s. (I have a pair of heels in my suitcase that look a whole lot like K above.) The way this brand spoke to tween (or pre-teen, as we used to be called) girls, allowing them to be goofy and silly and tomboyish in the pages of their catalogs and in their clothes? It carried me through middle school. The antidote to the stick thin (in body image and inspiration) magazine fashion spreads from Seventeen and YM and Mademoiselle. (And honestly, my love of Delia’s graphic tees is probably what led to the start of my career as a merchant in the Graphic Tees division at Abercrombie & Fitch.)
That’s the power of clothes (and images).
The clothes we wear bear witness to the moments in our lives. Events and services and activities and meals that mark life like notches on a ruler. Memories become threaded in the fibers. Like the scent of latkes or Christmas dinner.
I’m remembering my mom’s embroidered pumpkin shirt that she’s worn every Halloween since I was a kid and now wears for my kids. Every fall, I wear an Alex Mill fair isle vest (I also had and loved that Delia’s fair isle cardi), because it is fall for me, in color and stitch and vibe (thanks
!).
I wear this velvet floral blazer whenever I have something Very Fun to do. Florals for celebrating, groundbreaking. I love it.
Wearing clothes is like writing in a diary. Capturing the heart and soul of who we are on any given day.
But not all clothes do that.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Big Hitters (BH) lately. I’ve realized I used to wear a lot more of them. My clothes have gotten, if not quite boring, then safe. Forgettable, even.
And I think it’s because I’ve fallen victim to the algorithm over the last few years, without even noticing it. Our taste is influenced by what we see, and we’ve all been seeing a lot of the same. Over and over again. In Stories and Reels and Slideshows and Threads and TikToks.
perfectly dissected this phenomenon in interior design. Her antidote to the pendulum swinging towards sad beige (literally and figuratively)?“Swing it back ourselves.”
Embrace color and prints. Seek out aesthetics and visuals that challenge our eye. Follow artists and creatives and designers who push the limits of “bad taste.” Because bad taste usually becomes good taste.
This is my style resolution, if you will.
Because this is what makes design, fashion, art, and style so exciting.
The circle. The cycle. Something old. Something new.
On the plane, I watched Lindsey Vonn’s documentary of her last year competing on the World Cup tour. I cried through half of it. (And wondered if it was too late to become a professional ski racer for the other half - it is.) There was a lot of home video footage of Lindsey as a kid spliced in with her crushing it as the world’s best skier. We watch as a champion emerges through talent, grit, determination, and resilience. And then we watch as Lindsey tries to set one more record before her body simply says “no more.”
We grow up (despite how this week feels). Interests and pursuits and passions spark and fizzle. Some burst into fireworks. Some get doused with cold water. As we get older, we face new limitations. We earn new freedoms.
And we keep getting dressed. To seize the moment. To make memories.
We weave our lives through what we wear.
Cheers to the future.
LOOK BOOK
For New Year’s Eve, I’m embracing my elder millennial status to greet a big birthday year…which means I’m wearing jeans and a going out top, of course. Specifically this one, which I also wore to a few festive lunches and felt very shimmery in it.
If you’re still looking for something fab to wear to say hello to 2025, I spotted a few excellent BHs during my jetlagged late-night Net-a-Porter sale scrolling. Now these are clothes to remember!
Top Row: Please someone wear this top ($390) and actually the whole outfit as styled is so perfect for NYE; this sparkly Dries collar ($123) is 100% inspired by (I love how she challenges my eye to embrace ideas I never would have considered); the texture of this Ulla Johnson top ($354) can easily take you from now through spring/summer and around again next year.
Bottom Row: These Dries puffy bags keep popping up, and I’m partial to this metallic bronze one ($598); this shimmery black top ($282) will go perfectly with your blue jeans; I’d wear these loafers ($557) all night on December 31st and then every day beyond. (These studded ballet flats are also fab, $177.)
EXTRA THOUGHTS
I had planned to do a post about my posts this year, but like I said, I don’t love to look backward. And from the looks of it, neither do you, since Weekend Edition #38: Predicting the Future of Fashion was my most popular post of the year (by far)! Weekend Edition #35: How To Dress A Guy In Ten Ways was the most shared (I think we need more men’s style and fashion posts in 2025), and Weekend Edition #30: The Golden Age of Pants had the most comments! Thank you for making it such a blast to write this newsletter. While I’d still send it into the universe if only my dad read it (he’s still usually the first one to open it), it is way more fun to read and reply to your comments, see you restacking and sharing posts you enjoyed or perhaps found helpful, and being a part of such a kind and creative community.
- is sharing what to wear when no one is watching, aka perfect outfits for never-never land week.
- is a weekly must-read for me (and I have a couple of gift subscriptions for you - DM me)!
WHAT I BOUGHT
I’m in wishlist mode right now (and if you are too check out
recent post about shopping hacks that help you curate and shop the interwebs). I’ve saved this and this and this to see if I’m still thinking about them when I get home. If I am, and they’re still available, I’ll get them. (That’s my secret sales shopping method, lol. Please do me a favor and snag them away from me! Especially this one…this is my BH to end all BH’s, but way.out.of.my.budget.)I also have my eye on this and this…they are part of Michael Rider’s last collections for Polo Ralph Lauren. As you recall, Rider is heading to Celine, and I think he will have a big influence on how we dress in the years to come.
Have a great week, and I’ll see ya next year ;)
x Lindsay
Hello, Anxiety. My old friend.
First off- I'm able to sit and type out an actual response only because my kinds are engaged in the baseball card game that you posted. I'm not even joking when I say one child is wearing the hockey hat you recommended...so...we are just all leaning into the Lindsay Sword fandom in a very big way. I too have reached a moment I'm craving the things from my past. I have a purple (!!) chiffon Marc Jacobs jacket sort of thing from the early aughts that I used...let's say...80% of my first paycheck to buy, and it remains one of my favorite purchases ever. It added so much life to my post-college "going out" wardrobe in a way I haven't been able to replicate since. I LOVE your Very Fun Things To Do blazer and now feel that everyone should have one. My big NY resolution is NO MORE BASICS. I am so over-stocked on lovely grey stuff. All that's allowed in is interesting, textured, considered items that make my pulse race. Xx
thank you for the lovely comment and hope you enjoy my next story x p