After many years of collecting unique and well-crafted garments from every era imaginable, I wonder if they keep their value over time.

As I stare into my closet (a bedroom converted into my personal wardrobe closet), into the abyss, so to speak, I realize that I may need to liquidate some of the clothes that I may not ever wear again in my mommy days — like the gold lame bodysuit or my Hysteric Glamour neoprene skirt suit from my raver days. Most of my wardrobe I have had since high school! However, I do fit into most all of the clothes still, I do ask myself if it is age-appropriate. After all, I am 30 and a mother of a rambunctious preschooler, and perhaps I ought not to wear a Lolita Dress from Japan to Kindermusik.

As much as I love my clothes, it is not about whether I will wear them again or not, but rather it’s about the memories of each outfit: the outfit I wore on my first date in college, the gown I wore to a Broadway show, the jacket I wore many times in the blustery New England winters, or the dress I painstakingly made by myself, financed by waiting tables after school at our local neighborhood diner.  If you know me, much of my wardrobe is from various vintage stores collected throughout my travels. Whether it was a vintage store in Nice or a vintage store in Providence, it didn’t matter because I had a piece no one had or had long forgotten in the depths of their closets. Fashion, to me, is collectible, wearable art. People collect paintings — I collect clothes, shoes, jewelry, hats… Yes, this could be trouble, I suppose.

I was fishing through my closet just admiring some pieces, when I realized that two of my vintage Moschino handbags that I have are two out of seven in the world. One is a baby blue and light lemon gift box-shaped handbag I believe from the 1999 Cheap & Chic Collection, and the other is a baby blue handbag in the shape of an Italian pastry box. One other piece, again from Moschino, is a whimsical handbag in the shape of a milk carton (1 out of 50).

Before I acquired this phenomenal set on eBay for only a few hundred dollars a few years ago, I remember admiring these pieces at the Moschino boutique on Madison Avenue. Today, that boutique is closed, but I have many vivid memories of visiting that shop as a young adult, hoping one day I would be able to afford these masterpieces. Well, the retail value of the three special handbags were in the $3,000-$4,000 range. Sadly, these handbags did not hold their resale value. Perhaps we need to wait a little longer, but the point is it has held its value to me. I cannot bear to part with those marvelous handbags and am fortunate that the seller on eBay did not see what I saw in them.

I have a Jean Paul Gaultier porcelain doll that is number 231 out of 500 made by the French doll company called Mundia. She wears the spectacular corseted wedding gown from his 2000 Spring Haute Couture collection. It was a gift, and a very lovely gift at that. Apparently, its retail value was $3,000 in the year 2000. I am not a doll expert, but I know it is a very rare piece and, with a torn heart, I put it on eBay for a substantial sum of money. Although I don’t have bids yet, hopefully someone sees the value of this piece. After all, to put value on something is completely personal. Someone may fall in love with a piece in an instant and is willing to pay a high price…or, in another’s eyes, it’s just another doll.

Back to my closet — there are pieces that I would love to keep because I may never find anything like them again. I may never wear it again, but at least I have the option of staring at it on a boring Sunday afternoon and dreaming about wearing it to a black-tie event. Then there are pieces that, well, need to go — like jeans with the waistband cut off, circa Mariah Carey’s “Heartbreaker” video.  Then there are pieces that I have never worn, ever, like the Patricia Field’s credit card skirt or the blue plastic circle skirt with a corseted back. There is even a silver lame Dolce & Gabanna top with a print of Marie Antoinette that I have never worn because I have no idea what to pair it with without looking like a baked potato with a love for Marie Antoinette!

Anyhow, although most of my wardrobe is special to me, I think I will finally go through the depths of my closet and clear out what I may not wear again to start a new era in my life. Perhaps my forgotten pieces will become someone else’s treasure as it did a decade earlier to me.

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