Carnivale of the Couture #21 - Ritual Cloth: The Power of Fashion & Memory (Part 2) June 17, 2006

by Diva Gigi 

Margy Houtz sent us her own touching Ritual Cloth story for the Carnivale of the Couture. I’d like to share it with you today.

LOVE: AN ENDING, A BEGINNING, AND WHAT I SEWED

There are two suits I made, one 35 years ago, and
another, about 32 years ago, that were truly Ritual
Cloths for me.

The first suit, a natural linen, was what I was sewing
when I informed my first husband I wanted a divorce.
The seams were filled with an inner dialog: should I?
what happens then? what about our 2-year-old daughter?
What will returning to work full-time as a single
mother be like? (The suit was planned for wearing on
the first day of my new job). When I finally found the
courage to say what had to be said, I was hemming the
skirt, and forevermore (or for the life of the skirt)
I would associate that suit with sadness, loss,
relief, courage and the excitement of a new direction
in my life.

The second suit was a beautiful white boucle
Chanel-type suit that I made for the third date with
the man who would become my second (and final!)
husband. Those seams and linings were imbued with the
hopes and dreams that I had thought were never going
to come true for me. Six months later he proposed, and
I wore my lovely white suit happily for many years.