afterthoughts BY KAT HRY N D RURY WAGNER

executive editor

In the Closet
A visit to the UH Costume Collection has me imagining what my own life might look like

A
if it were documented through clothing.

S AN INCURABLE CLOTHESHORSE, I’ve for years Press-on Nails. Accessioned: 1984. Donor notes: Give me a
lusted after an opportunity to see the UH Mānoa’s break, it was the ’80s.
Historic Costume Collection. So when I read that Item 5: Aerosmith concert tee-shirt. Cotton. Accessioned:
the professor in charge was looking for volun- 1987. Donor notes: Long-suffering MOD (mother of donor) drove
teers, I eagerly contacted her. The collection is donor and donor’s cousin all the way to Weedsport, and endured
one of the largest at an American university and sitting on bleachers for an entire rock concert because her daugh-
is particularly renowned for its Hawaiian and ter was too young to drive. [Curator’s aside: Should name this
Asian garments. wing of exhibit hall after mother.
I wound up spending five See item 6.]
days among the collection’s cli- Item 6: Prom dress, circa
mate-controlled rooms, mostly 1989. Material: Yes, my Lord,
documenting the information yards of it. Peach satiny stuff and
on tags that hung from each gar- tulle, with more bows than a gift-
ment. I’d mark down what kind of wrap kiosk in December. Donor
materials had been used to make notes: MOD sewed this antebel-
the clothing, the condition it was lum getup, which blessedly had
in, when it was worn, and when it no parasol. Photo only, because
was “accessioned,” that is, when actual dress was so poufy, it may
it became part of the collection. live on as the curtains in a com-
My favorite things were the munity playhouse.
slinky, 1930s eveningwear, and Item 7: Hot-pink, “Fun
some Chinese brocade from the Fur” miniskirt. Accessioned:
1700s. That fabric was so rare, I 1992. Donor notes: Was there
was scared to breathe on it, much anything MOD wouldn’t sew
less unfold it. at donor’s request? Skirt was
Exploring these racks of inexplicably worn around cow-
clothes, and thinking about who town college campus, standing
might have worn them, I started out—oh, just a touch—from the
to envision what it would be like sea of plaid, Nirvana-influenced
to document my own life through flannel. [Donor sniffs, “I did not
clothing. What would the tags care.”]
read in my costume collection? Item 8: Vintage felt hat, circa
Item 1: Shiny, red Mary 1943. Accessioned: 2004. Donor
photo: linny morris. illustration: jing jing tsong.

Jane shoes. Accessioned: 1975. notes: Grandmother wore hats,

Donor notes: These shoes came with a lollipop, and were mod-
eled on the shag carpeting at Sullivan’s Shoe Store, in downtown
Rochester, N.Y. Donor did not wish to remove shoes at bedtime.
Item 2: Puff y snowsuit. Accessioned: 1976. Donor notes:
Triumphant debut on mountain of ploughed snow in neighbor-
hood cul-de-sac.
Item 3: Deelyboppers. Accessioned: 1981, in Covent Garden,
England. Donor notes: Deelyboppers? That’s a headband with
two long springs sticking up like antennae, and, at the top, two
bobbing, sparkly silver stars. Why this was a good fashion deci-
sion is not known to donor.
Items 4a and 4b: Neon yellow shirt (collar up) and Lee
and often spent Saturday nights whipping up a new version of a
hat, such as gluing on feathers, for Sunday church. Grandmother
dies at 98-and-a-half years old.
Item 9: Man’s gray corduroy shirt. Accessioned: 2005.
Donor notes: Fell in love with cozily-shirted man while he was
making pesto. Married man and procured shirt for closet.
Item 10: Black top, jauntily festooned down front with baby
spit-up. Accessioned: 2008. Donor notes: No, no, don’t treat that
stain. I wouldn’t change a thing.
For more of Wagner’s writing, see her “Guilty Pleasures” blog at
honolulumagazine.com.

164 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM August 2010

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