Why are Mom's Clothes Cool Again

I swear everyone has had the experience of seeing an old picture of their mom and

immediately being like wait where is that.

And the answer is always the worst possible answer.

I got rid of it years ago.

Of course you did.

It’s always the leather jacket. The old Levi’s. Some pair of sunglasses that would cost

$200 on eBay now. A perfectly worn-in sweatshirt. Your dad’s old watch that she

started wearing. Something nobody thought was special enough to save.

Now you’d kill for it.

THEY JUST WORE THEIR STUFF

Obviously our parents followed trends. They weren’t living under a rock.

They knew what was cool. They copied people. They went shopping. They bought

questionable stuff too.

But they also wore the same things constantly.

Look through old photos and you start noticing it. Same jacket in 1997, 1999, 2002.

Same jeans. Same shoes. Same watch.

Nobody was calling it a uniform.

Those were just his shoes.

I think we’re missing that a little bit.

Not because everyone suddenly forgot how to get dressed. There’s just so much

coming at us now that we barely get the chance to decide if we actually like

something.

You see a jacket. It’s good.

Two weeks later you’ve seen it 80 times.

Three months later somebody makes a video saying it’s dead.

Okay.

OLD CLOTHES GOT TO GET OLD

And I mean actually old.

Not distressed. Not washed six times at a factory until it looks like somebody worked

construction in it.

Your mom’s leather jacket looks good because she wore it all the time.

Your dad’s jeans fit like that because they’ve been washed 300 times.

The shirt is faded because it’s old.

There’s really no shortcut for that.

Which is probably why finding something in your parents’ closet feels better than

buying basically the same thing vintage.

You know where it came from.

You’ve probably seen it before and didn’t even realize you were looking at something

you’d want later.

That part gets me.

WE KEEP TRYING TO FIND OUR STYLE

Everyone wants personal style now.

Which I get.

But I think we might be thinking about it too hard.

Your parents probably didn’t sit down and decide what their personal style was. They

just kept buying things they liked and then, more importantly, kept wearing them.

Eventually people knew what they wore.

That’s kind of the whole thing.

Maybe the coolest thing in your closet shouldn’t be the thing you found first.

Maybe it should be the thing you’ve had forever.

So before your mom cleans out the closet again, maybe go look.

Seriously.

She is about to give away something you’ll be looking for on eBay in five years.