Yes and no.
My mother took such good care of her clothes. She wore one pair of jeans from when she was in her twenties for 20 years before passing it on to me because she literally had nothing when she was a child except for 1 pair of shoes, 2 pairs of socks, a uniform and a home dress with 2 pairs of underwear. I mean NOTHING.
She gave them to me and I ruined those jeans in a matter of weeks, they were so soft and worn, that they grew holes in the knees and they had to be scrapped (although that worn-in, distressed look is now IN and something I like!)
Ironically, she has a ton of clothes that she has in her closet that she wistfully cannot fit back into or wear (very outdated, handmade for her, 70s stuff). She can’t let it go, but she also can’t wear them.
It’s a strange place to be in.
She taught me a lot about tailoring with her handmade items, and she always enjoyed it when I dressed up and looked more feminine because it made her very happy to see me in such clothes with fuller skirts, bright happy colours, and so on. It’s the way she loved to dress when she was slimmer and now thinks she can’t again or is too old to do it (hogwash I tell her).
My father on the other hand, took zero care with clothes but always valued comfort over everything else. COMFORT WAS #1.
I sort of follow after him naturally and go for more comforting things but I try very very hard to be more like my mother. I try to recondition my leather items every year, I pay for dry cleaning, I tailor things in, and I try to buy high quality.
I don’t remember any specific lessons being passed on, just observations and marvelling at how long my mother kept items.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
The entire series can be found here: Women in Clothes Style & Fashion Survey
