(Needle & Thread dress, Christian Louboutin shoes, vintage hangbag, vintage earrings)
If you’ve seen last night’s vlog, you will easily understand what I am about to say. In short, during the first part of the video, I was complaining about a nasty thing that happened with what I now call the insects of Satan, also known as MOTHS. Moths! Those damn moths who’ve vandalised my wardrobe this autumn and butchered one of my most beloved dresses from my vintage collection. The green one, from 1940, which I have shown you in this post: http://andreeabalaban.ro/nemtia/
My frustration and bitterness come from within. The dress is irreplaceable because of its age, and my emotional attachment to it brings us to today’s subject, more exactly, clothes which have sentimental value.
There is a reason why we still keep wedding dresses, school uniforms, linty sweaters which we consider good luck tokens because of some exam we passed while wearing them (even though we know they will never see the light of day again), the dress we wore on a first date, the scarf from that interview, the graduation shirt, the hoodie from that trip, etc. I believe that for most of us, clothes become souvenirs the moment when we attach feelings to them, or memories or experiences; they gain unexpected meanings, meaning nothing to others, but so special for us, as wearers.
In my case, there are two types of textiles with sentimental value:
1) the ones from the above examples, clothes which have been “by my side” at one point, marking it, and so I associate them with the feeling of that moment (like the above dress) and
2) vintage clothes, tens of years old, impossible to replace or reproduce. It’s futile for me to sew a dress such as the green one eaten by moths, in 2018, if it won’t benefit from the age gained from the passing of years. The age factor is very important for me in choosing a vintage piece, and as I’ve previously told you, I consider them “pieces of history”.
Returning to the contemporary, now even more than before, with the trouble with moths ( I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone), I want to offer my clothes the best possible care. And, maybe you have seen, if you’ve watched my previously mentioned daily, that I have already taken measures and the war (against moths) is ongoing. For other types of fabrics, I have been using for a few years the Perwoll detergents (I guess it comes as no shock to anyone, considering the many times I’ve talked about their products here or on Youtube). They are the only ones present in my bathroom, in different sized packaging, depending on the needs of my clothes.
Perwoll Renew Advanced Effect, here with us, is inspired by haircare technology, with a formula especially developed to actively take care of our clothes. It fixes the colours and prevents textile discolouration, it smooths out the fibers and protects them from the ashy aspect, revives colours, giving them back their intensity. Or, well, colours or non-colours, as for the more suited one for the dress in the pictures is Black & Fiber. It is a special dress which I found fit to photograph next to a forged iron detail because it seems to me to be made from… forged iron. It’s weird, but that is what the pattern inspires me. I treasure it very much and associate with it a certain very happy moment from my life 
Now! To properly mark my happiness from taking these photos (you have no idea for how long I’ve wanted to take photos in this location!), I am also announcing a cute giveaway, sponsored by Perwoll. The giveaway is inspired by the design of the new limited edition, colourful, patterned and beautiful. The giveaway will be held on both Instagram and Facebook, and the rules are as following:
For Instagram: contestants must post a photo of them, on their Instagram account, in which the wear an outfit that complements the décor where they are, together with the hashtags #patternsbyPerwoll #AndreeaPatterns.
For Facebook: contestants must post a photo of them in the comment section of the post, where they are wearing an outfit which complements the décor that they are in.
Winners: we will have one winner who will receive a one-year Perwoll kit and a custom made sweatshirt especially created for him/her and which will be inspire by him/her. Mădălina Andronic, illustrator, will take inspiration from the winning image and will create an unique illustration for the winner. This will also be found on an unique sweatshirt, created with the measurements of the winner. The winner will be chosen by a jury.
Good luck!
Do you have clothes with a sentimental value? I would love to hear their stories