The clothes that make the person

In print | March 31, 2005

You may know it as your “lucky boxers,” your “no-fail tank top” or even your “oh-yeah-gonna-get-me-a-little-something-something-tonight” Britney-esque denim miniskirt. We speak of the proverbial “hot item”: the one cherished piece of your wardrobe that does for you what Maxim does for all its pin-up girls. No, not airbrushing (although that would be cool). We’re talking about oomph.

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This week, we talked to students about their “hot items” (we wanted administrators, too, but Martin Warner never got back to us about his safari hat). What was remarkable was the ease with which everyone we talked to could select one cherished piece of clothing — which made us feel less alone in our worship of a corset (Annie) and a pair of jeans (Lilli). One could see it as materialist, but we don’t think that truly appreciating a piece of clothing to an “I-am-wearing-the-hot-boots-and-now-I-feel-like-strutting-past-everyone-in-Sharples” degree is a negative thing.

In this consumer society, one alternative to the rat race is to drop out altogether, wear nothing but your hemp poncho, and live in it happily until it falls apart and you make yourself a new one out of mud, twigs and native grasses. Another is to feel that materialist satisfaction simply by finding YOUR hot item, and deriving joy every time you take it reverently out of the closet, pull it on, and step out into the world with all your inner and outer hottness on display.

Nick Forrest ’08

Nick: My brown velvet pants are definitely my hot item. They’re a good color, and boot-cut so they flare a little. I think it’s mostly a tactile thing. They just feel very nice.

A&L: So you do a lot of sensually caressing your legs when you wear these pants.

Nick: Oh, yes. That’s what it’s all about.

Karen Lorang ’07

Karen: I have a hot shirt, which my brilliant, brilliant roommate picked out for me. The main feature of the shirt is probably the lack of shirt. It’s black and small and lacy, everything a good shirt should be, a halter top with a pink underlayer underneath black lace. And every time I wear the hot shirt, good things happen.

A&L: What kind of things?

Karen: Things that are better than sleeping, late on a Saturday night. The shirt has actually never failed.

A&L: Do you ever worry that you’ll jinx it?

Karen: Sometimes when I’m in a bad mood, I worry that if I wear it I will break the power of the shirt, but empirical research has proved that the shirt overcomes all obstacles in its way.

Tanya Aydelotte ’05

Aydelotte: My hot item is a pair of shoes. The type of shoe is called “Jackie O,” which makes them even better. They’re teensy and black with a giant thin heel and a little black bow to offset the toes. I saw them in Strawbridge’s. They were magnificent and the last pair in my size, and I was telling myself that I didn’t know if I could justify buying them. I was so into the shoes that I actually said it out loud, and just at that moment this 40-year-old woman walked by and said, “They’re shoes, you don’t have to justify.” And the man with her said, “You want them. They look fabulous.” And I was like, they do! You’re right! And I bought them.

A&L: How do you feel when you wear them?

Aydelotte: I feel very sexy in them. Also very wobbly. When I want to get out of wearing jeans and being a student, I can be like, “Ooo, I have classy Jackie O feet.”

Arthur Chu ’05

Chu: Hmm, maybe my item would be my green shirt. I used to have a long-distance girlfriend that I’d visit. It would always be several months in between, and so I would always end up wearing the same shirt, this green shirt with a pattern of guitars on it. I guess I unconsciously wanted to replicate the situation every time.

A&L: The same hot situation?

Chu: Possibly, yes.

A&L: I’m sure our readers would want to know— Do your shorts make you feel hot?

Chu: Well, I think that’s the point of shorts, that they don’t. I overheat very easily.

Meagan Hu ’08

Hu: I just got this camisole type thing. I like it a lot because it is really versatile, kind of long, so I can layer it and wear it as it is. It’s kind of light, peach-colored, with purple crocheted straps.

A&L: Can you think of any occasion when people reacted to your hotness?

Hu: Well, one day when I was wearing it people commented about it more than they usually do. And my, well, the person-that-I’m seeing said that he liked it.

Joe Raciti ’05

Raciti: I guess my hot shirt would be the long-sleeved polo with the pink and the green and all the different colors that I got in West Virginia.

A&L: Any memorable occasions that your shirt accompanied you to?

Raciti: I wore it in a casino once, and a guy was trying to making me feel intimidated at a poker table and called me Rainbow Brite. And another guy said “Nice shirt!” [sarcastic tone] and I said, “Thanks! It only cost two bucks.” And he said, “Glad to see you’re proud,” because he was implying that I was gay.

A&L: How does it make you feel hot?

Raciti: Um, actually it makes me feel very nervous, because I have to perform up to the standards of the shirt. I don’t really like wearing it but I have to because it’s an awesome shirt.

A&L: Anything else you’d like to say?

Raciti: You can’t have it, if that’s what you’re wondering.

Annie and Lilli are sophomores. You can reach them at afredri1@swarthmore.edu and ldunn1@swarthmore.edu.