some notes on my closet

I collect color and texture. My closet is the closet of a textile magpie who really should invest more time sleuthing for more basic wardrobe foundations —but it’s less fun. My wardrobe can’t be neatly organized into different occasions or purposes; it’s all meant to blend, but there are a few themes.

A variety of colorful blazers: some suede, some velvet, mostly thrifted. The perfect seasonal transition. Color that stand out are important to me in a world that demands we fade into one. I like collecting these so I can continue elevate my color combinations to bold heights: red suede over a pink dress was the latest.

Banjara vest, banjara clutches: to be worn with white, sometimes denim. I had a banjara style vest when I was in grade school; I never wore it out of self-consciousness. Then I hunted for years for a grown-up size version of it.

Bright pink bandhani dupatta: I think this is from the 80’s. It is my mom’s (now it’s mine). I think it was a style to contrast a bright Bandhani dupatta with with a white salwar kameez. I’ve tried to imitate the look, which is why I’m always on the hunt for just the right white kurta (simple cut, good shape, no designs). I’ve worn this intermittently through high school somehow. It has a hole in the corner from when my cousin safety pinned it around his neck as a cape to be “superman”. It’s decades old, and it’s still the brightest thing in my closet.

Silk skirts, Eileen Fisher scavenging: I love the fabrics and styles of Eileen Fisher, probably because they are so reminiscent of salwar kurtas. Obviously, I can’t afford them, so I end up scavenging them on sites like eBay, and I’ve amassed quite a collection. I have two silk skirts – purple and gray – which I love to wear on the beach. I’ve also gone through a number of their cotton tunics.

Animal prints: not the skin of an animal, but the whole animal. Animals are very important to me, and I like to channel them on my body. I’ve held onto a khadi pajama with abstract goats (cows?) block printed onto it from Jaypore, even though the indigo dye seeps into bedspreads on hot summer nights (much less now, after giving it a good long rinse). One of my favorite dresses is a black silk tunic with tiger-leopards painted onto it. When I see block print + animal print, I need to buy it.

Long Chanderi and cotton dresses: my friend calls them “muumuus”, but I call them the comfiest thing to wear in the summer. I have two from Jaypore – one Chanderi silk, one Kanak cotton with gold threaded into the fabric. (I love Chanderi as a dress fabric). I used to have a few black block-printed ones that I wore until they faded. I sometimes try to commit wearing more fitted dress, but I always end up coming back to these all year long. 

Colors that are not from here: my chartreuse raw silk skirt, fits in this category. Also: a gauzy kurta that matches with saffron yellow sharara pants that I can’t wait to figure out a occasion for; a deep maroon angrakha top with about a dozen pompoms dangling from its ties (I feel like a puppet when I wear it); and a loosely woven red wool shawl from Kenya that gets its bold, un-fading red from a dye made of crushed beetles. Every season I become obsessed with a color, and it’s usually in the red family. Vermillion and maroons in the fall, yellows and apricots in the summer.

Wool shawls, silk scarves: Probably before I even had a collection of clothes for my arms and legs, I began amassing a collection for my neck. I have a couple of Kashmiri shawls, and dozens of painted silk scarves. I’ve bought only a few of these, for the most part I take them from family members who don’t seem to want them anymore (how?!): I have three Kashmiri shawls from my mom and grandmother. The colors and embroidery in the winter make me feel like I can be warm and not resort to looking like an insulated trash bag.