In preparation for my move to the Bay Area, I’m currently in the middle of a closet purge. My two best friends came over to help assess the outfits and pieces that I’ve collected over the years. It was very similar to this scene from Sex & the City The Movie:
There were some items from high school that somehow managed to survive my numerous closet purges in recent years. We weeded through those along with cocktail dresses, scandalous barely-there club outfits, trouser pants, summer dresses, mini skirts, button downs, and even basic tees and tanks. They insisted that one can never have enough basics, but I took a good look at some of my ribbed tank tops, and just shook my head. I don’t wear these anymore. Even if I had the sudden urge to start wearing ribbed tanks again, I’d rather just buy new ones. I did come across pieces that I don’t wear anymore but only because it was lost somewhere in my closet. If I could still make them work, I decided to keep them. Other than those exceptions, there were clothes that ran their course and just had to be retired, even if they had no defects. I ended up with three piles: definitely keep, donate to friends, and donate to the Philippines.
There was one group of clothes that I didn’t even bother modeling for my friends because, up until last night, I had assumed that I would just keep and bring all of them to the Bay Area with me: my pajamas.
Who really cares what you wear to sleep? It’s the only time in the day that you are truly liberated from any trends and the need to impress others. You can wear a raggedy, stained baseball tee with Care Bear pajama bottoms (this combo actually exists by the way). I went through my pajama drawer last night, thinking I was going to take everything with me, but I realized that I own a damn lot of pajama shirts! I wanted to be as minimalistic as possible and get rid of some that I didn’t wear anymore, but the thing is, I wear all of them — just in rotation. It’s literally in a pile. I wear whatever is on top, and after it goes in the laundry, I fold it and put it at the bottom of the pile, then choose the shirt at the top of the pile for the next few nights. (I never realized how OCD this procedure was until just now.) Okay, I thought, maybe I could narrow down the pile by only keeping the ones that have sentimental value. Well, actually, they all have sentimental value.
These are shirts that I’ve gotten from joining, volunteering, directing, or supporting various organizations. None of these have I ever paid for, unless it was part of a registration fee. All of these shirts have a story behind them:
Shirts from my years at Queen of Peace High School. Our school colors were green and gold, and our mascot was the griffin.
I was part of our high school choir, and we ordered shirts for our competition at Hershey Park, which we partook in during my junior and senior years:
The following tops are from the years I was involved with the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue (FIND), Inc. during college. I volunteered at our semi-annual conferences regularly since 2008 and served on the executive board since 2009. I served as the National Chairperson my senior year.
BOSES was the fall conference we hosted in 2010, where I delivered a speech before 1,200 delegates at Fordham University. The conference focused on the freedom of expression and its impact on Filipino history and on Filipino communities both in the Philippines and the US. Every time I wear this shirt, I’m reminded of all of the hard work that my team and I put into the conference and the pride we shared during the 2-day conference weekend.
The FIND, Inc. National Board 2010-2011 with one of our guests speakers, Ruby Veridiano:
In 2010 and 2011, I walked in the EIF Revlon Walk for Women in memory of my mom. In both years combined, my team and I raised over $3000 toward cancer research, support, and awareness.
2010 Team, Malakas Kami (We Are Strong):
2011 Team:
Isn’t funny that the shirts that I pretty much got for free are the ones that carry the most memories? They are little insights into what hobbies, interests, and what groups of people I associated with at the time. They represent my generation and my values. As it turns out, I’m only donating one shirt:
It was a gift from my aunt. She bought matching ones for me and her son, who has been like a brother to me since 1991. It’s quite possibly the oldest shirt that I own. I don’t wear it anymore because the cotton is a little stiff and the collar is too high for my comfort, but I’ve never been able to throw it away after all these years. It’s so classic 90s with the homage to Friends, and the fact that my little bro also has one makes it even more special. If I talk anymore about it, I might just have to keep it. Maybe I can cut it up and make it into a vintage tank top… It’s just got too much history to give it up now.
The Sum of 20Something 