Love, Loss, and What I wore

I've come to realize that over times (especially over breakups) I find myself attached to clothes and the memories that are associated to them. This comes to me today of all days.
I can look at something in my closet and somehow remember the good (or bad) times that have happened to me in a particular outfit.
For example, I haven't worn the blue polo shirt that I wore the day of the split since then. But I can laugh about the time I wore my brown embroidered jacket with boots to the stock show last year in an attempt to not look so out of place (only to look somewhat like an idiot because the heels of my boots kept getting stuck in the mud (and not to mention I was freezing because that jacket wasn't nearly warm enough).
I still wear the purple sweater I wore on the Tyra Banks show often, not because of the show but because I actually feel pretty in it based on how dolled up I looked that one day in New York. My converse are the most comfortable I will ever feel. I can honestly say that I have had some good times, faced the harshest criticisms, and walked the longest roads in those shoes. Hell, those shoes have been constant and continuously with me through everything, even the day I said hello and the day after I said goodbye.
Clothes are supposed to be materialistic, artificial and soulless but when you think about it, the sentimental value of a memory associated with what you wear can make anything that much more meaningful. I look at my best friend's t-shirt and immediately think of his goofy smile and long lasting friendship. I can put on my denim skirt and laugh about how my friend Michael calls it "the skirt of no mercy." I can wear a certain perfume and remember that there was once a time where my goofy, loyal friend once teased me about not getting a meningitis shot.

Now, I guess I hold on to these sentimental memories, especially because I have new ones coming my way. Now I wear these certain bracelets that remind me of my friends right now. I wear my hoodie to sleep sometimes too, just to go back to that old familiar feeling of being comfortable and safe. I'm a new, strong and independent person this year. When it comes down to it, there's no such thing as a signature outfit. Just a signature feeling you get and the confidence you radiate from a good memory.