Question Friday: What clothes would you save in a fire?

What do your clothes mean to you? The other day, I was thinking:  if – god forbid – there was ever a fire in my apartment, what would I save?

The appliances aren’t mine, and it’s not like I could haul a refrigerator out on my back anyway. I love all the pictures on my walls, but thankfully they all live digitally on a hard drive somewhere, so I’m safe there. The only irreplaceables, then, seems to be my clothes – which I own outright but without the luxury of back-up copies anywhere.

After taking a good hard look at my closet, I picked a few “throw in my arms and run” items. A dress I wear almost every New Year’s Eve because it still looks brand-new every time I pull it out of the garment bag and lets me imagine I’m headed to the Oscars (rather than a crowded bar, most likely) when I slip it on. A sweater of my mother’s that I used to steal every time I’d visit my folks in Wisconsin until one day I came home and it was waiting for me in the mail.

And because I have no pets or small children to save, I decided I could probably toss my red wool coat on top of the whole pile. An old boyfriend gave it to me, but I’ve since moved beyond thinking of him when I pull my arms through the sleeves. Its rich red color reminds me of home, and the double-breasted, a-line cut make me feel like Mary Tyler Moore – minus the beret – every time I put it on.

(Pretty cute, right?)

So…what would you save from your closet?

Would it be the suit of your dad’s stuffed in the back that’s sort of brownish, and you don’t know how you’d wear it, and it’s not even your size…but every time you see it you smile? Or maybe the navy pinstripe suit that you had tailored to within an inch of your life that makes you feel like James Bond (or maybe Justin Timberlake) whenever you wear it?

Is it the blazer your girlfriend bought you for your birthday that you make a point to wear when you see her because you know it makes her feel good? Or maybe the football jersey of your favorite quarterback that you still wear on Sundays even after he was traded to another team because you just can’t bring yourself to hate him?

Leave your “save in a fire” clothes in the comments. And then, think about how you can stock your closet with more of them.

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