Are you being haunted by any of the Wardrobe Ghosts Of The Zodiac? Vintage clothing has many appeals. It is ecologically optimal, sustainable, often fairer trade than now, and better made. Fast fashion is over. But as Carla Ciccone writes in this New Yorker article, it could be haunted. I love CC’s work.
Here is her take on a Libran Wardrobe Ghost Of The Zodiac:
2014 Neiman Marcus Black Cashmere Turtleneck
Ghost: Noni Baker
First of all, darling, congratulations. I am a catch! Neither a moth hole nor a pull will you find here. This is pristine, barely worn cashmere. I had ten sweaters just like it when I was alive. Equal wear is important to me. (I am, or, was, a Libra.) Did you notice that this sweater smells like wealth? That’s Jicky by Guerlain mixed with new car leather. I always traveled in new vehicles.
I died three years ago, of a heart attack, while sunbathing on a yacht off Capri, after which my ungrateful children gave all of my clothes away to Goodwill. Can you imagine? Every time you put this on, you shiver slightly. That’s me! I’m stuck in a sweater. My top three goals as a ghost in a wardrobe are to convince you to dump that boyfriend of yours with the motorcycle, to dye your hair brown again, and to stop eating pasta.
Do you have a ghost in the wardrobe? And if so, what sign are they? For a more practical take on this, see Can Clothes Be Haunted?
A nightgown of some designer I honestly forget, with a wacky 90s style rugrats style print. Think she’s an Aquarius sun with Taurus everything else. So there is quite a bit of 9th house as well… she tells me to just lounge around while laughing maniacally with the craziest hair accidents. Draw 500 pretzels. Call Pizza Hut and order a whole pepperoni sausage. Show strangers pictures of your dog (if you leave the house. Online is fine).
Love love love. I sell vintage- too many ghosts to name !!
Thououghly creeped out! LOL!! Esp with the Jicky haunting!
I Op Shopped in the golden years (80s) when fully beaded 60s sheath dresses went for a one hit wonder song.
I had many beautiful pieces, most of which I gave away in a hippie fit I lived to regret. One zippered mini skirt screamed out for short storys filled with hitch hiking, magic mushrooms, sun dappled afternoons morphing into sparkling nights
I love how timely this little blurb is, as I just spent the entire day browsing on the vintage site RubyLane.com. Having recently done a Kondo to my wardrobe, while listening to the podcast Dressed: A History of Fashion, I promised myself I would rebuild with pieces to be proud of. I have accepted and collected secondhand since I can remember. As an Aquarius I always felt like following trends was impossible because whatever I was into was never going to be popular until three years after I’d worn it out. But glorious vintage? This was economical and fascinating as a student of history. So in the mail I have a piece coming. I spent all day browsing, but a button down 1970s shirt tan and green with a print of cobbled Toulous Lautrec posters, I knew this was something I could not stand the thought of anyone else owning. Someone else did on it though, and in my experience there will be a ghost attached or other human energy. Second hand clothing to me is like saying, Don’t worry your time is not over. Though you may have spent beautiful hours wandering the museums of Chicago, or dining in San Fransisco, You will have a home and be loved by someone who is humble enough to know that you’re special. I talk to the ghost. And if they have a problem with me, there are plenty of places I could donate them. LOL incompatibility is always a possibility. But I for one am looking forward to this new psychedelic charge.
Yes !
First, thank you, Shirley, for taking magnificent care of your mink Blackglamma coat that you ir your family donated sime time ago that wound up on a “fake fur” rack in a recycled clothing store at the mall. Up until then just 3 years ago I eschewed vintage anything. Then the Orange Monster was elected and the shock of waking up to daily horrors on the news created a habit of; frugality, and a need for glamour, need for powering up, witching up, and warrioring up. That led my teenage daughter and I to hunt for bargains. I started watching 1930s and 1940s mystery movies with ladies dressed beautifully from hat to earrings to brooches to gloves. I started buying vintage costume collectible jewelry of that era and found a fabulous vintage store in my city that has customers flying regularly from all over the world (especially costumers) where i find pieces. I wear vintage contemporariliy (not a word but hey) i wear a beautiful 1940s wool crepe suit jacket with trousers and I look great.
The house now has art that I buy for cheap from resale stores and I often find myself at the Goodwills to honor “The Kitchen Gadgets Graveyard” and remind myself ro avoid contributing to it in future. I know jewelry has energy from previous owners but the clothes like their new home…they are appreciated here. If someone buys a Brahmin bag and then has buyers remorse so I grab it at 75% off orginal price and appreciate the bag Kondo style then i am extending MY energy into the object releasing the ghost from its original owner’s lack if appreciation. I not only enjoy a bit of wild can’t normally afford it luxury goods, I appreciate them deeply whenever i wear them and try to honor the original owner who had great taste.
People thought I was barmy for not buying second hand anything ! I’ve always said it carries energy from who ever owned it last. And houses I have to feel at home in. Like the whole place welcomes me or it’s a no ! Second hand cars are an absolute NO. Makes life damned expensive ! I can’t imagine I’m ever going to take a donor organ, in fact here’s a conversation, I have also always known organs carry souls. I’ve never carried a donor card and do not wish to donate. Just a weird sensation that being broken up shortly after death does not allow for the soul to leave intact and correctly. Old jumper old liver same thing.
I feel the same about everything you said except the clothes. Most 2nd hand clothes are OK, but some I just don’t want to touch.
I think it’s a Pisces thing.
It’s funny, I am wierdly pragmatic about death. I believe that once I’m dead, I’m dead. I’d certainly appreciate a peaceful death and respectful treatment of my remains. But so many people are denied this privilege, too. It has occurred to me that any rites or rituals to do with my body are beliefs that help the living who remain behind – not me.
Ha i love it! I smudge second hand clothes but maybe it would be fun to parse them for ghosts
I’ve definitely haunted my own clothes. Case in point: a purple wool sweater I wore in high school. Kept it for years without wearing it. Took it down off the shelf a few years ago and was hit with a wave if depressed teenager and I threw the damn thing away
Funny, I’m so open to vibes in most other areas, but when it comes to used clothes, I just can’t hang with the notion that some energy is attached to them. I wash them anyway– any furniture gets washed and oiled, too– so I feel I’m saying to the object, You’re Mine Now. They seem to be pretty happy about it!
I am the same I “cleanse” everything with intension, love and some nice smelling oils or incense. Seems like a welcome to my space mostly.
Oh I love op shopping & garage sales! Most of my fave clothes- and the ones I get most compliments for- are from them.
And I also love the different energy they bring into the house. If it feels off, wash it and hang it out in the sun for a day. Good as new.
I think there are much worse forms of haunting such as buying from any label (most of them) produced in sweat shops etc… now that is bad ju-ju imo
And how horrendous that those awful concentration camps in China ‘re-educating’ the Muslims are producing clothing for unknown brands…
Forget clothes being haunted, clothes produced from misery and suffering must surely feel worse to wear?
I love going to vintage stores, but I can never bring myself to wear vintage clothing. I don’t want a ghost latching onto me thank you.
I don’t like or wear other peoples clothes because it kind of freaks me out for some reason, esp dead people’s clothes. Any used clothing I feel like I am going to be like that person or something from them is going to wear off on me LOL
I totally get this line of thought that sits in conflict to my environmental self that can’t stand how much clothing waste we are producing globally. I have to take an intuitive approach and be in the right zone to shop it and choose correctly. I’ve had some pieces that were probably from departed folk as they were super vintage and I’ve mostly moved them on…. I have an old tailcoat – yeah like circa 20’s – 30’s that I picked up as the complete set but ditched the bits I didn’t want. It’s wool, thick lined and forces you to put your shoulders back it’s that structured. I reckon we could pretty much assume that the original owner has left this realm. It was more of a fancy dress piece and doesn’t get a wear these days…. I think I just keep it due to it’s unique nature now.
AHahahah, Maybe this is an excercise I can try when the moon passes through my leo 8th house.
Clothing clothing that I put on – who wore you first and are they really gone?
That or even when moon conjunct my 1st house Neptune, but i don’t think i’ll be as open to this kind of ‘channelled’ discovery the. (capricorn)
I remember once I wanted to take my recently deceased grandfathers’s red satin shriner’s shoes, but when I touched them I felt veeeery apprehensive. flashes of the little match girl hit behind my eyes and of the sheer exclusionary foundations of the Masonic lodge.
I have a pair of red suede, fringed cowboy boots, from Camden market that are most definitely haunted. Bravado walk before them and they certainly strut to the party whether I like it or, not. First to arrive, last to leave, unless the glutenous sex pigs can be admired skyward, in an lofty bedroom. Ideas of grandure, although shallow; they cannot wait to tell you about that time they were featured in a Duran Duran video. I’m pretty sure they laugh at me, not with me and I am slightly scared of them.
Sag?
Hahahaha – that was very funny. As a Sag that can put her hand up to owning various fringed things historically you may be right …
I love Op shops and go almost every weekend. I have often wondered, after each shopping excursion, who was I bringing home with me? Who wore the earrings that now adorn my ears? Who slipped into the silk sheathes or linen shirts that I collect? How far did those suede shoes travel before my feet landed in them? Energetically, each time I take home a sample of something, I inhabit places, people and energies that intermingle with mine. It feels divine! A universal fest of shared beauty and finesse. Some things I cannot take home, I instantly know that the “off” feeling I get is not to mingle with mine. That’s fine as well.
I wonder if I am my own wardrobe ghost… I still have many of my really good designer outfits from the 80s. “Investment dressing”, it used to be called. I don’t wear them of course except for the occasional fancy dress party at which I can impress my younger friends (“OMG! that’s AMAZING! *Feeling sleeve* Is that LINEN????”). I can’t fit into all of them now, of course, and in any case the architecturally improbable lines would surely be some kind of OSH hazard on public transport, but just touching them seems to summon up the ghosts of my Piscean identities past. One jacket I bought in Jaeger in London is my favourite. Exquisitely well made bolero style with shoulder pads and embroidered with pearl-like beads. It still smells faintly of cigarette smoke and my then-signature Dior perfume. I’ve been thinking about off-loading some of those outfits on ebay but I’ll never part with that jacket. What is it telling me? ‘Make an entrance, lovely Chrysalis, make an entrance.’
HEART EYES
I had a ghost in my wardrobe. I raced home one lunchtime ready for the next event and was racing ahead in my mind. Shower, hair, clothes, shoes. But as I tried to get my clothes out of my antique (preloved) oak wardrobe the door wouldn’t budge. I was in such a rush I pulled and twisted the key, trying different techniques but nothing. Alright I thought I’ll wear something from another cupboard. Stuck too. Five dressers or wardrobes in total. In the end I sat down and prayed (begged) to Portunus or something to open a cupboard so I could wear something appropriate. Then the joker that it was let me open my husband’s cupboard. In the end I got a hacksaw blade and cut the blooming thing open. When I returned everything opened. Was something delaying/protecting me? This was the only thing I could justify this super bizarre happening as.
YES! I picked up a swath of insane Italian trench coats from the 20’s – 60’s at an estate sale. The house was clearly of an older couple. Him, a postman and GI with a foreign bride after world war two. Their bedroom was a shrine to her and it was clear they spent a lot on making her look smart. Huge black and white portraits in beehives and bobs, jewelry from Paris, and a closet stacked with hat boxes. Never been into hats (Aquarius Rising hair does not permit) but coats, oh my. My aunt bought as many as we could carry and we high fived on the street.
Think a huge blue ultramarine cape with a high color to tuck my face into. Fur collared cadmium red belted trench with bell sleeves and green stitching, silk lined camel hair with short sleeves for gloves. Every night spent in them was a wild time, and sometimes I would make an outfit just to match them. Gold leaf platforms, Green backless dresses. I have a photoshoot in each one, my hair bigger, my eyes more darkly lined, each coat urging for another rosary or glass of champagne. White eyeshadow and frosty sixties lips.
Peeling one off at the end of the night was like going from a secret princess back to myself again. Only one has survived all the adventures, carefully preserved in my closet. I wear it on my birthday and imagine her delight.
I love this!
Have collected vintage for over 30 years and there are many ghosts here. Most significantly, I adore the Ghost of Australian Manufacturing Past. Anytime I espy ‘made in Australia’ on a label I have a past life vintage moment that’s like a patio party along with pineapple decked out in toothpicks with ham and green olives. Shame as I age that I can’t quite do the polyester like I could when I was younger though …
Yes! Vintage Oz fashion <3
I NEED A WARDROBE GHOST LIKE THIS.
Edited after I re-read the post:
Vintage fashion is also cheaper and often far more interesting.. to me. In my price range.
I think it’s my 9th house-ness that means I am kind of happy to wear vintage . I like to think of the places it has been – 1970s fleece lined boots from Canada (did they wear them through the snow to visit friends in a bar? In Calgary or Montreal? Or were they an Australian tourist who couldn’t resist their warmth in our short winter? Did they Walk through forests? Have dogs?) A 1980s suede bomber jacket and matching pencil skirt from a defunct London label (clubs and bars! Maybe the theatre? Dinner parties?) Handmade dresses (that fit me perfectly! Who was this woman?), Spanish stilettos, …
When I read the Ghosts blurb in my head I automatically, comically changed voices.
I’m not into vintage clothes. But it does remind me of a time in Brisbane.
I was looking for a new home rental and I answered an ad from a sweet French lady. The home was in a nice suburb with nature.
When I turned up I realised that this young mother had recently lost her husband. The sadness engulfed the house. But I didn’t have the heart to leave straight away.
She showed me down stairs where I would be living. I opened the huge sliding wardrobe to check it out and there were the husbands old clothes. They were talking to me.
I made up some excuse about why it wasn’t suitable and left. It was so sad.
This woman was in the very early stages of grief with a young child. I will never forget that.