We all have memories associated with the things we wear every day — in fact, just looking into your closet can trigger a flashback. It’s not quite accurate to say we never remember the first few years of our lives. For a while, we remember them very well but research has shown that most people begin to lose their earliest memories until around age 7 or so, the beginning of a process known as childhood amnesia.
It is not yet clear why certain experiences are remembered for a lifetime, while so many more are not. The earliest childhood memories recalled by adults are often of emotional events. And for some of us, our experiences of life, including our memories, are closely linked to our clothing – an intriguing concept poignantly brought to life in the book and subsequent play written by Nora and Delia Ephron, ‘Love, Loss, and What I Wore‘.
In this series of posts where we explore the Super Styles, we take the responses to our Facebook post questions about style and share them with you, grouped by Super Style, to illustrate the way that each of the Super Styles goes about style. In this post, we’ll take a look at how recalling memories related to clothing and style informs our current reality of style, through the lens of the Super Styles.
The Super Styles are a great way to look at your style, and it’s a great way to organize the responses to the many intriguing style questions we ask on our Facebook page. There’s only four groups, instead of the 16 Style Types so you stand back and take a big picture look at how you’re approaching your style through the lens of these four fabulous Styles: the SF Style Aesthetician, the ST Style Pragmatist, the NT Style Strategist, and the NF Style Dreamer.
What is your first memory of clothing and style?
The Style Strategist – iNtuition and Thinking (NT)
- My grandmother measuring me for the dresses she sewed me. I don’t think I had a store-bought dress until age 8 when I begged for them so I could be like the other girls in my class. …and of course those store-bought clothes were terribly uncomfortable, didn’t fit right, weren’t flattering colors and wore out before the school year was over…. Grandma and mom made much higher quality things. (INTP)
- My stylish grandmother showing up for Christmas in her red velveteen trousers and red sweater! (ENTJ)
- My purple gingham pedal pushers when I was 6. They were dead cool in 1962. (INTP)
Read more about the NT Style Strategist Super Style here.
The Style Aesthetician – Sensing and Feeling (SF)
- I loved dressing up and prettying myself. I always loved surrounding myself with beautiful objects and liked receiving little kiddo jewellery sets. I always wanted play princesses and loved playing with Barbies and dressing them up pretending they are princesses going to a ball. (ESFP)
- I was a chunky monkey till puberty and I always had to shop in plus size girls and in elementary school I had to wear corrective shoes. I remember crying and being difficult because I didn’t want to wear “ugly”, tie, Oxford type shoes when my friends had cute shoes. I now love these types of shoes which my older sister thinks is hysterical. (ESFJ)
- About four. Church anniversary- new dress, matching hat and shiny shoes. Green dress with brown velvet trim which was soft to rub. Socks with lace. Feeling just sooo special. Loved the feel. (ISFP)
- At kinder aged 4. I had red jeans and a multi colored flowery shirt which was as girly as a farm girl could be. Bang on palette actually. (ISFJ)
- Every time we would visit my grandparents, I was allowed to sit at my grandmother’s vanity and try on endless combinations of her extensive jewelry collection and then I’d go into the living room and show everyone my “stylings”. My grandmother loved them all! She made me feel wonderful. (ISFJ)
Read more about the SF Style Aesthetician Super Style here.
The Style Dreamer – iNtuition and Feeling (NF)
- My mom bought me patent leather red Go-Go boots when I was 7. I only wore them one time, but I’ll never forget them! I like to think I grew right out of them, but I think the real reason is my mom decided she didn’t like them on me…LOL (INFP)
- I remember twirly many-layered organdy skirts in multiple tiers of pastel colors starting when I was about 5. My mother and grandmother made them and carefully Frenched all the seams so there was no itching. Often the bodice was made from linen in one of the tier colors. The organdy skirts had whipped and rolled hems in contrasting embroidery thread–real works of art. My favorites were a bright rose linen bodice with aqua, rose, mint, violet and butter colored tiers and flowers made from the same colors of organdy that buttoned on to the straps; a gray linen bodice with white organdy skirt and all the hems whipped and rolled in red; a pink linen bodice with black embroidery attached to a full gathered skirt of black voile covered with tiny springs of pink rosebuds and green leaves. (ENFP)
- Age 4, youngest of five and the only girl. That meant I was the only one in baggy, scratchy tights and I hated them! Thank goodness I was fairly oblivious to style as life was a series of hand-me-downs for years… (INFJ)
- A hoop skirted dress, age 6. Navy blue with plaid ruffle and trim. (ENFP)
- I also had a lot of grandmother- and mother-made clothes. My mother and grandmother gravitated to classic and elegant, white gloves, sailor suits, and straw Easter hats for us kids. (INFP)
- My mother always making matching outfits for me and my younger sister. (ENFJ)
- When I was about 8. I had a Sunday best summer dress with a full gathered skirt. It had a layer of tulle under the skirt. I hated to wear the dress, the tulle was so itchy and scratchy against my legs and around the waist. (INFJ)
- Mum knitted me a twin set and tiered ‘twirly’ skirt in navy with coloured edges. I was about four. I used to love twirling around to make the skirt dance. (INFP)
Read more about the NF Style Dreamer Super Style here.
The Style Pragmatist – Sensing and Thinking (ST)
- Some of my earliest memories of my own clothes were of dresses that my mother and grandmother made for me. Of style….when I was 6-1/2 and Lady Diana Spencer married Prince Charles. I had a wonderful paper doll book of her outfits. I loved all the colors and textures and embroidery. (ESTJ)
- About 3 or 4 years old. My Grandma knitted me a red dressing gown. It was warm and comfortable. I have always liked wearing something red, especially in wool. (ISTP)
Read more about the ST Style Pragmatist Super Style here.
Get the Full Details on Your Style Type in Your Style Type Report
Your Super Style gives you the broad strokes – your Style Type Report gives you the details you need to really make a shift in your style, including how you think and feel about your style, and what your style motivators are.
If you are already know your four-letter type, click here to get your Style Type report. If you are not 100% sure of your four-letter type, believe you may have been mistyped in the past, or simply wish to take a fresh look at what makes you, you – discover your Style Type here.
