Every week a different FADER staff member will pick a clothing item or accessory that he or she has lately been spending a lot of time with—or would like to—and write a little love letter to it. We would’ve done a column on who we’re dating but that seemed a little bit much. This week Deidre Dyer writes about Chambers' Mont Cardigan and why she started buying Men's clothes.
Overall I’m a pretty happy person. This is no easy feat, but I try not to have regrets and often look for the silver lining in most situations. I have become one of those adults that cling to positive truths and new age mantras like they’re daily doses of vitamin C. My aim is to wholeheartedly fight the urge to embrace negativity. Like anything that we strive for in life, something is going to try to impede your attempts —you know, fuck with you a bit. Along these lines, I categorize ex boyfriends. I always know when I’m going to run into one of them, either when my week is going too good that is has to be ruined or when its really shitty and on its way to impending worst of all time.
I had this one ex who after we broke up drastically changed his look. Not like transitioning for a sex change or anything, but just started to dress really eccentric. When a person that I've loved no longer looks the same, as far as I’m concerned that person no longer exists. I still have some of that guy's things, to remind me of his old self. There's the silk tie he left in my purse one night when we were dressed up for something fancy or the button-fly Levi’s that he said looked better on me. But most importantly, there's the piece de resistance, a slew of his sweaters.
Since they no longer reek of his cologne, at this point just Downy fabric softener, only once in a while do they remind me of what was. And while I usually prefer not to tarry in ex-land for fear of falling into the dark side, I take my chances and still wear his things. During the Boyfriend Jean trend of ’08, I was actually wearing my ex-boyfriend's jeans. Layering up on chilly evenings at home comes courtesy of his discarded collection of pink American Apparel sweaters, remnants of his ill-fated neon cotton phase. To me these are artifacts of a bygone existence and the fact that I can even rock them is proof that my therapy sessions are paying off.
Of late I’ve been thinking maybe I should skip the sessions altogether and just purchase my own man-sized garments, deal with my love of the masculine. Enter the Chambers' Mont cardigan. A double-breasted gem that is great for dumbing down a sexy black ensemble or providing a prudish cover up and a sense of security when my slutty tank tops get out of hand, which they tend to do fairly often. Chambers, a menswear line based in L.A., has done a fine job of creating the basics that dudes wanna wear on the daily. So why go through the trauma of dating? Cut out the middleman, I say. Perhaps I invest more emotions in my inanimate wardrobe than I do in actual humans beings. I prefer things this way. So even if the sweet moments go sour, the sartorial choices will always remain.