At the back of my mother's closet there is a blue coat that nobody wears. It is two sizes too small for her and far too old for me. (11) She bought it with her first month of pay, when she was nineteen and new in the city. For a year she ate the same cheap food every day to keep it. I once said she should give it away, (12) she only smiled and closed the door. (13) I understand that the coat is not clothes at all. It shows that a frightened girl in a strange town kept a promise to herself, (14) nothing in a shop can take its place.
Ask anyone why they chose today's clothes and most will say they wanted to feel easy. (15) In one study, people were asked to put on a white coat. Those who were told it belonged to a doctor made fewer mistakes in a careful task than those who were told the same coat belonged to an artist. Nothing about the coat had changed, (16) the story around it had. Clothes also tell other people how to treat us, and we learn this young. A child in a new shirt walks differently for about an hour. (17), fashion is not really about what we wear. It is a way of saying something about ourselves before we open our mouths, (18) most of us never notice we are doing it.
Ann: I want to buy that shirt online but I do not know my size. Here is their chart.
| SIZE CHART · Shirts |
|---|
| S shoulder 38 · around 88 |
| M shoulder 40 · around 94 |
| L shoulder 42 · around 100 |
| All sizes in centimeters |
Ben: Your shoulder is about 40, right? Then M.
Ann: Yes, but I like my shirts big. Should I take L?
Ben: Then L. You can always wash it in hot water once if it is too big.
Friday, October 10 · Double Tenth Day week
On Friday students may come without the school shirt, pants, or trousers. Wear what you enjoy and have fun, but please keep these points in mind.
Students who would rather wear the school clothes may do so; nobody has to change. We will also collect old clothes that day. Put them in the boxes outside the office, and please wash them first. Last year we gathered over three hundred pieces, an excellent result that the students achieved themselves.
Dear Sir,
I bought a coat from your shop two weeks ago, size M. After washing it once in cold water, as the paper inside says, it has become half an inch shorter in the arms and the skin of my wrist now shows.
I am not asking for my money back. I would like to change it for the same coat in size L, if you have one. If not, I would rather have a different color in M than nothing at all.
I still have the paper from the shop. I work until seven every day, so I can only come on Sunday. Could you keep one for me?
Sincerely, Wu Ping
A shirt today can cost less than a lunch. That sounds like good news, and for a while it was.
But a shirt that costs so little is made to be worn a few times. The shirt is thin, the buttons are weak, and after two or three washes it loses its shape. People now buy more clothes than ever and keep each piece for half as long as their parents did.
Some people now buy less and better. They choose one coat that will last ten years, learn to put a button back on, and pass clothes to a younger cousin. It is slower, and at first it costs more. But in the end they spend less, and their closets are no longer full of things they never wear.