What is the oldest piece of clothing in your regular wardrobe?

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What's the oldest piece of clothing you own that you still wear on a regular basis?

I ponder this as I shiver in my freezing air-conditioned office building, swathed in a well-worn black cardigan sweater circa 1996. (Although it's a classic wardrobe staple, a simple black sweater to wear to work is terribly hard to find.) Damn fashionistas. ;-)

― Jasmine U. (Jasmine U.), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Funny you should ask, cause I'm wearing it today. It's this light green short-sleeve button-down. It hearkens back to the days when medium shirts were a little baggy on me.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

It's my grandmother's grey boiled-wool Peck & Peck suit which once had a wide-necked '50s fur collar but I removed this and now people think this double-breasted jacket is Japanese deconstructionist. the skirt is A-line and knee-length and it also comes with a bandeau-necked black cashmere sweater with a triangle of the wool suit fabric at the neck. This ensemble is older than my Pucci dress by a good 15 years.

But the oldest thing from I think 1938 is my other grandmother's high-school graduation dress. She made it herself from summerweight black velvet, it's floor length and bias-cut and its short, puffy sleeves push over the shoulder in keeping with the neckline. I would wear it more often but it's quite delicate.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 18:53 (twenty-two years ago)

A Dirty-era Sonic Youth t-shirt with a bunny on the front and the word Gracias on the back, which I've had since approximately 1994 (This is kind of a guess). I wear it only on special occasions, since it has holes under both armpits and is kind of delicate.

― NA. (Nick A.), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 19:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Your mom's panties.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 19:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I still have my Bowie concert T-shirt from the Outside tour, but it hasn't been wearable in years. So the one that counts is ... the T-shirt I'm wearing today, actually, my S4nt4's Soldier's T-shirt that I really need to replace.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 19:05 (twenty-two years ago)

A gray t-shirt with an "Alpha Psi Omega" logo on the left breast. I received it for participating in a theatre workshop the summer after -- get ready -- 8th grade (so now 11 years old). It's held up surprisingly well, even though I usually just wear it as an undershirt these days.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 19:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Welcome, Jasmine! Oldest piece? Red skirt that mummy made in 1987 for my talent show. (No, it doesn't still fit;>)

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey Nick. But do you wear the skirt on a regular basis? :-)

Actually I just thought of something older. I had a summer nightshirt from around 1987 that had 2 teddybears ironed on it, wearing cop hats with a logo that said "Official Yawn Patrol" over them. I wore that to sleep up until last year. Other than that I have my 1994 DM "Devotional" tour concert shirt, but I hardly wear it anymore.

― Jasmine U. (Jasmine U.), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I have several faded, disarmingly form-fitting t-shirts that I refuse to throw away, but don't wear too often.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey Nick. But do you wear the skirt on a regular basis? :-)

I used to, since it was a micro-mini on me, by then. But then, I grew another half-inch.

I used to wear my DM and Oasis shirts to bed too, actually. Down here, isn't any need for them, though.

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess my leather jacket, Wild One/Ramones style, bought for me sometime in the very early '90s, and it was secondhand then.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I have this old Stussy denim shirt that I picked up in about 1993. It's a little frayed now, and has a couple of big holes, but I still wear it sometimes.
Because I love it.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a couple of coats and shirts that are hand-me-downs from my parents, probably bought around 1970. I wear them regularly in winter. As for stuff I bought myself, I still have quite a bit from 7th/8th grade (that would be 15 years ago). I haven't really gained any weight since then.

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Second hand - grey woolen US style 50s jacket that I got about 1988-90. I have possibly older coats and jackets but I don't wear them anymore.

New at the time - some red jeans that I wore sparingly for a while then wore a lot now wear sparingly again, bought in 1990.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 20:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I remember wearing a pair of red jeans to high school in the late 80s and being mocked mercilessly by my friends. I thought I looked all hip and shit and they just thought I looked like shit.
Sadly, I never wore them again. My fragile adolescent self-image couldn't weather their gales of laughter.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:00 (twenty-two years ago)

An ex-boyfriend of mine still wear's a previous girlfriend's father's pants* about 9 years after stealing them. I kept him away from my Dad's underwear drawer (I think).

*British definition.

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:07 (twenty-two years ago)

An ex-boyfriend of mine still wears a previous girlfriend's father's pants* about 9 years after stealing them. I kept him away from my Dad's underwear drawer (I think).

*British definition.

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:07 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't know. most of my clothes are straight from the 1960s.

― di smith (lucylurex), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Not counting my vintage stuff I didn't originally buy, I think the oldest is my Roxy Music tour t-shirt, bought on The High Road tour, 1983. Yeah it still fits.

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a red and yellow satchel that I used to carry my lunch to kindergarten that still looks cute.

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 21:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd like to make it clear that my jeans are dark red.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 00:17 (twenty-two years ago)

i'd have several shirts that would be 20 years old or more.. but the piece of clothing i've had the longest would probably be a shirt i bought in '96 that's all but fallen apart..

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 00:22 (twenty-two years ago)

My very serious advice to anyone who wants to keep clothes longer - don't use a tumble dryer. Since I've has one everything has started falling apart.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 00:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I adopted a t shirt from my brother from the Roger Waters Radio Kaos tour. It was odd answering questions about it at university where people couldnt recognize USSR and the USA bombing the shit of eachother in monochromic computer graphics. Aparently no one born after 1980 on the east coast saw War Games at anytime.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 00:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I still have a dress I wore one and only one time when I was 15 years old. That was eight years ago. That's also probably going to be the oldest thing in my wardrobe. I was thinking maybe I had bought a t-shirt at the Rolling Stones concert I went to in 1994 (my first concert!) but then I realized I hadn't, so the dress would be my oldest article of clothing. All the uniforms I still have are those I acquired when I was a senior in HS, which logically would mean they're newer than the dress. Still, they're six years old, and I am planning on keeping them for all eternity.

― Just Deanna (Dee the Lurker), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 01:41 (twenty-two years ago)

We've done this before... because I distinctly remember posting about my mum's black v-necked Marks & Sparks jumper which she bought in the mid-60s at some point. She retired it during about 1984 or so, at which point I adopted it and have worn it ever since. It's not THAT threadbare considering how old it is. M&S quality was really something else back then!

― kate (kate), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a BHS belted cardigan which I think my mum got in the late sixties. Of things I bought new... I still wear a T-shirt or two, a jumper, and a dress that I've had since I was 12 or 13. This is more out of necessity than desire.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 11:33 (twenty-two years ago)

A t-shirt a bit like this, from 1987:

http://www.theweathermen.com/acatalog/smiths_shoplifters.jpg

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 11:39 (twenty-two years ago)

i have a lovely faded band of susans t-shirt fr.1987 which is too torn and worn to wear out really but i keep bcz i reminds me of my grandma, who once said "that's a nice picture, they all look so sad!"

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 11:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm wearing a Wedding Present shirt at the mo' that's quite old (though still fits somehow), procured for a dollar at the since-vanished NYC Marquee (which is now a Latino dance club....`cos, y'know, NYC needs more of those...grumble grumble!) on the Seamonsters tour.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Hmm, my oldest t-shirts in that case is a Confusion Is Sex Sonic-Youth t-shirt which is probably a little older than my two dozen Smiths t-shirts (the proper Smithdom ones) from the mid-'80s (including Phallic Popsicle Boy).

― suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 16:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a pair of scooby-doo underwear from when I was a kid. Right now they fit slightly over my scrotum. They are my nut warmers.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

JtN has reminded me that I still occasionally wear my Smiths T-shirts from about 88. But as ever, only in bed.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 17:03 (twenty-two years ago)

"We Take Morrissey (To Bed)"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 17:14 (twenty-two years ago)

The longest any item has been in my possession would probably be my Krazy Kat t-shirt, which I have had since about 1989.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 19:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I just found a piece from at least '88, possibly '86. Does anyone remember the mall chain "Units"? They sold all these very versatile pieces...very plain shirts, skirts, leggings, etc. which you were supposed to mix and match. Every item came in the same colors. The special item they had were 'bandeaus' which could be used as a tube-top-style shirt, a skirt, or scrunched up around your waist as sort of a cummerbund-style belt. Anyway, I'm wearing one of those right now.

― teeny (teeny), Saturday, 26 July 2003 20:27 (twenty-two years ago)

eight years pass...

my autumn fave, a john smedley sweater i bought on sale in sheffield aged 17ish, ca. 1998. it is so old that when i bought it it was way too big for me, and now it is just right. lucky!

it has a (moth?)hole in the front which i should fix, but usually i just wear a black tshirt which makes it invisible. i lovvve it.

http://i.minus.com/ibeF2ZRY1lXPNk.jpg

― caek, Friday, 7 October 2011 11:59 (fourteen years ago)

i also still have a JAMAICA tshirt which i inherited from my aunt, who bought it in JAMAICA in the early 80s.

i basically stopped wearing it since someone told me it was kind of patronisingly racist to wear it as a joke, which i didn't agree with, but i guess you don't need to get into complicated issues on tshirts.

here is the last time i wore it, on holiday in france (hence sunburn) about 5 years ago (hence still have hair).

http://i.minus.com/id4fxUDVMjlaW.png

― caek, Friday, 7 October 2011 12:05 (fourteen years ago)

I don't know if I'd call it my "regular wardrobe"--I don't really even have anything as lofty as a wardrobe--but I've got this Blue Velvet T-shirt that a friend bought for me over 20 years ago that I still wear semi-regularly. It's got a huge image of Hopper's face with the ether mask on, and the word "Mommy" is scrawled across the bottom.

― clemenza, Friday, 7 October 2011 12:36 (fourteen years ago)

I have a jacket that I got in 1998 that I still wear. Also a scarf that I was given as a present in 1988.

― triple black belt in ILX-fu (snoball), Friday, 7 October 2011 12:47 (fourteen years ago)

24 year old Jordache jean jacket I have been wearing since high school.

― *tera, Friday, 7 October 2011 13:10 (fourteen years ago)

I have a generic hoodie that's around 25 years old now, non zip style, used to be dark blue but now more of a denim colour. Baggy bc I think it was actually a men's - I still wear it around the house about once per week.

― Manitobiloba (Kim), Friday, 7 October 2011 13:21 (fourteen years ago)

Until this year I still wore a couple of shirts to work that I got before I started the Upper Sixth at school (1993). My wife made me put them in recycling and buy new work shirts this year though.

Apart from that I still wear a long-sleeve top I got from Top Man in 1998. Again mostly for work on casual Fridays tho.

― The Eyeball Of Hull (Colonel Poo), Friday, 7 October 2011 13:23 (fourteen years ago)

An olive-green Field Gear item that's like a sweatshirt with a shawl neck. Maybe even Polyester or something synthetic on the outside and very soft on the inside. From, like, 1989 even, maybe, or 1990.

― per metal injection (Eazy), Friday, 7 October 2011 13:26 (fourteen years ago)

ralph lauren polo shirt my gran bought me in 2004. i have washed it so many times and it still looks good.

― you've got male (jim in glasgow), Friday, 7 October 2011 13:34 (fourteen years ago)

I don't think I have anything older than 4 years in my regular wardrobe (unless you count old jackets I've bought from the fleamarket, which could be 20+ years old, but I've only worn them for a few years). My style (colours, patterns, types of clothe, etc.) usually changes completely within a 2-4 year period, so even if I manage not to tear or wear out some piece of clothing, after a while it doesn't match my other clothing anymore.

― Tuomas, Friday, 7 October 2011 15:16 (fourteen years ago)

I have a black wool sweater, circa 1985, that I wear with regularity. My wife had to put some of those leather patches on the elbows a few years ago, because I'd worn them out. I expect it is older than about 20% of ilxors.

― Aimless, Friday, 7 October 2011 15:33 (fourteen years ago)

i have a brown stussy tee that ive had since at least 1995 that i still wear occasionally

― johnny crunch, Friday, 7 October 2011 15:34 (fourteen years ago)

Somewhere I have an event Tshirt from a youth conference I went to in 1991. I'm very proud of it.

― WE DO NOT HAVE "SECRET" "MEETINGS." I DO NOT HAVE A SECOND (Laurel), Friday, 7 October 2011 15:37 (fourteen years ago)

Not sure, but this purple-dyed workshirt with "Mekons Night Patrol" above the pocket that I have on today is at least a dozen years old, I think.

― incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Friday, 7 October 2011 15:38 (fourteen years ago)

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