In defense of never cleaning out your closet

For the first time in my life I see wisdom in Gwyneth Paltrow.

This isn’t to harp on her, or on Goop, or on the fact that I am 99% sure that should we ever meet, she’d ask me not to talk so loudly. It’s to say that we are different. She has an Oscar, and I do not. And she also has every dress she’d worn in the past 23 years.

“I’ve been saving my gowns and special things since 12 years before [Apple] was born, so I have everything,” Paltrow told People. “I have every Oscars dress.”

Of course, Gwyneth’s reason for stockpiling was to pass her wardrobe down to her now 11-year-old daughter, but in the spirit of holding onto things that mean a lot to us, maybe — regardless of whether or not she’d have gone on to have a daughter — Gwyneth still has it figured out. Maybe, despite my instinct to roll my eyes and judge and purge my wardrobe in a reactionary way, she’s onto something.

Especially since we’re all already obsessed with vintage pieces, old memories (hi Facebook!), and waxing poetic over our adolescent nostalgia. We buy old, used dresses and think of the people who wore them and the places they wore them to, and we embrace the comeback of trends that we were around for the conception of. (See: glitter everything, and the reason I just bought a Baby G watch.) Arguably, holding onto old clothes can be just as important a memory tool as journalling.

Because lest we forget that clothing retains memories in a way not even photos of those clothes can. When we hold onto our grade eight graduation dress or our Nana’s old sweater we remember all of it. Clothes are wearable nostalgia.

Of course, let’s be reasonable for a hot second. To hold on to everything you’ve ever worn is not just ridiculous, but probably in violation of a few building codes since your home would inevitably be made entirely of pants. Not all of us has the storage to keep our grade 7 t-shirts or build a shrine dedicated to our brief commitment to Quiksilver hoodies. We can’t all be Gwenyth who likely lives in a castle with a floor dedicated to gowns. But there’s something to be said about keeping pieces that played a role at some point — even if they don’t fit anymore, or you’d never wear them again. Annoint a box, and toss them in, and then document any or all #TBTs.

Especially since we make other people’s vintage clothes part of our own memories, knowing that eventually everything does come back. (And especially since artists like Iris Apfel — or any of the Advanced Style participants — have proven that a diverse and expansion collection of clothing only serves to make you look like a champion in a few decades’ time.) So no, we need not all be Gwyneth Paltrow. We need not keep bridesmaid dresses we bought under duress, or the collection of AE polos we wore to look more like Marissa Cooper. But in terms of clothes that actually matter, Queen Goop has a point.

Maybe even right now, that top you’re wearing? It’ll be what you remember putting on the day you read the greatest article of your whole damn life. (This one.) I’ll remember you forever.

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