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When I was a child, I would change my outfit at least three times a day. To me, it was a game. I mean . . . why settle for just one dress when you could wear five? Honestly, I still don't know the answer to that. Each one fanned out differently when I sat cross-legged, twirled in varying silhouettes, and made a multitude of swishing noises when I ran from one end of the apartment to the other.
Insisting on dressing myself practically from the age I began to walk, I was stubborn and opinionated, and I developed a decisive list of wardrobe essentials and pieces I would never get within 10 feet of. As it turns out, not much has changed since then — including the pieces I still love best.
I recently cleaned out my parents' basement and found myself poring through boxes of clothing from my past. There was the plaid dress with a white Peter Pan collar that I wore to the first day of nursery school, the red gingham espadrilles so tiny they surely never touched the ground, and hand-knit chunky cardigans from my grandmother; the floral French bikini it was a wonder I fit into for more than a week, the velvet-collared coats that were specially selected each Fall, and ballet flats with perfect grosgrain ribbons that I honestly wished I could still slip more than a single toe inside. And as much as I wished I could still fit into most of what my fingers ran through, I realised I owned a wardrobe that looked quite similar to what stared back at me from inside a brown cardboard box.
Sure, over my lifetime, I've added uniform staples, like leather jackets, skinny jeans, silk camisoles, and more, but there are still a handful of favourites I've worshipped since day one. Ahead, find the pieces from my childhood I still want to wear — and how you can shop them now.