Worn Stories

Description

Everyone has a memoir in miniature in at least one piece of clothing. In Worn Stories, Emily Spivack has collected over sixty of these clothing-inspired narratives from cultural figures and talented storytellers. First-person accounts range from the everyday to the extraordinary, such as artist Marina Abramovi? on the boots she wore to walk the Great Wall of China; musician Rosanne Cash on the purple shirt that belonged to her father; and fashion designer Cynthia Rowley on the Girl Scout sash that informed her business acumen. Other contributors include Greta Gerwig, Heidi Julavits, John Hodgman, Brandi Chastain, Marcus Samuelsson, Piper Kerman, Maira Kalman, Sasha Frere-Jones, Simon Doonan, Albert Maysles, Susan Orlean, Andy Spade, Paola Antonelli, David Carr, Andrew Kuo, and more. By turns funny, tragic, poignant, and celebratory, Worn Stories offers a revealing look at the clothes that protect us, serve as a uniform, assert our identity, or bring back the past--clothes that are encoded with the stories of our lives.

Reviews

'The idea behind this collection has been (and will be) mirrored, copied and repeated: it will inspire others. Worn stories cannot end: we all can contribute - stories that are, at the same time, unique and universal.' ADDRESS; journal for fashion criticism

Author description

Emily Spivack is the creator and curator of Worn Stories and its sister website Sentimental Value, which collects fascinating clothing-based eBay posts. She is also the creator of the Smithsonian's new blog about fashion history (drawing from their vast collection and beyond) called Threaded, is the editor-in-chief at PopTech (a network of people, conferences, and ideas, that are changing the world), and serves on the board of Brown University's Entrepreneurship Program. In the past, Emily has served as the Executive Director and Founder of Shop Well with You, was an award recipient of Eileen Fisher's Women Change the World Everyday campaign, and was named one of Glamour's Top 10 College Women.