When packing for college this past summer, I had two closets to sort through: mine and my mother’s. While rifling through her clothes, I mentioned how I needed to get a pair of cowgirl boots before starting my first year at Cal Poly (a necessary rite of passage). Within seconds, my mom pulled out a perfectly worn pair of brown, vintage Frye boots. We are only four weeks into the quarter and they have been worn every single weekend.
As my personal style has grown over the years, I have found myself, like many others my age, gravitating towards the styles my mother wore during her college years. Dr. Martens, straight-leg jeans, baby tees, and chunky gold hoops became some of my closet staples, all of which were inspired by pictures of my mom in the 1990s. This revival of 90s fashion in the 2020s allowed my mother and I to bond over something new, passing clothes down through our generations.
When I’m on the hunt for a new article of clothing, chances are my mother has it waiting for me in her closet. Throughout the past couple of years, I have received (stolen) numerous pieces of my mother’s and grandmother’s clothing, all of which come with stories. A pair of overalls my mom wore while she was pregnant with my older brother, a necklace my grandmother gave my mom for her 8th-grade graduation, and brown Mary Jane’s my mom wore to Lollapalooza in 1994. Something as simple as borrowing a jacket from my mother opens the door to conversations we might’ve never had otherwise. When deciding what to wear one evening, my mom handed me a jacket that went along with my outfit perfectly. She told me that after having my brothers and I, she rarely spent money on herself. Once we were finally older, she fell in love with the jacket and decided to buy it, even though it was a big splurge. Despite not wearing it anymore, she couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it. I was the first one to wear it in years. Her clothes not only improve my style (thank you Mom), but they create a space where my mom can share experiences she has lived through while wearing those same clothes.
As I incorporate her clothes into my own style, I build on their history and live out stories of my own. My mother’s Frye Boots were able to see Nirvana live with her in the 90s and Hozier live with me in 2024. My mom started her first day of high school wearing a gold heart necklace, the same necklace I wore on my first day of college. I plan to save these pieces and pass them along to my daughter(s), allowing them to learn more about me and their grandmother. I hope they create their own stories, just as I am creating even more of mine.
Passing clothes down generationally not only creates a bond between family members, but it promotes sustainability. The trends of the 1990s and 2020s might be similar, but the quality of clothing has drastically changed. In recent years the clothing industry has focused on following micro-trends, trends that come in and out of style quickly. As a result, the quality of clothes currently being sold is drastically lower than the quality of those sold in the 90s. When you wear clothes that your mother or grandmother owned, you are not only giving an article of clothing a new home but also keeping it out of a landfill.
The clothes given to me by my mother might be a couple of decades old, but they’ve held up better than the majority of clothes I have bought brand new over the past few years. Many of my newer clothes grow threadbare after a couple of washes due to higher percentages of polyester rather than cotton. Instead of spending my money on clothes that only last a few months, I am lucky enough to get hand-me-downs from the generous people in my family. I save not only money but time stressing about how long my clothes are going to last me.
As I navigate a new life as an independent college student, one of the hardest things to come to terms with is experiencing life without my mother right at my side. Her hand-me-downs allow me to feel closer to her, even if she is miles away. I love college so far; I’ve found friends I can’t imagine living without and I have the independence I was missing in high school. One thing’s still for sure, I can’t wait to take another look at my mom’s closet when I’m back home for Thanksgiving break. Whenever you visit home next, be sure to ask the ladies in your life about the clothes they have collected over the years. I’m sure you’ll discover amazing clothes and the stories that accompany them.