The intriguing phenomenon of clothing exchange during the early stages of a relationship.

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it has been my experience that upon commencing some relationships, that the women have been quick to offer me items of their clothing ie shorts, jeans, t-shirts. i am no fashionista, but like to think i am not un-hype to the groove. whilst this has usually been a sign of something lasting, i've often pondered the meaning of this. is it code for "your taste in clothing stinks"? does this signify "ooo chris you sexy thing i want to see you in clothes i wear"? who else has had clothes bequeathed to them by the objects of their affection and so early during courtship?

― Chris Radford (Chris Radford), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 04:27 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe she likes the way you smell and wants it around more frequently than you can be

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 04:51 (twenty-two years ago)

i am not altogether alpine fresh.

― Chris Radford (Chris Radford), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 04:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I've done things like tshirt swaps, usually purely out of practicality (I need a clean shirt, can I borrow one?). Also, the wearing of the boy's jacket because it is cold, that one pleases me every time, its more romantic and gentlemanly for a guy to offer his warm coat than it is to give flowers I think :)

Plus like Matos said, the nice smells :)

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 04:55 (twenty-two years ago)

do people continue to wear clothing of past lovers? your right though, that smell is intoxicating. hers that is, not mine.

― Chris Radford (Chris Radford), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 05:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Its funny, I always find the smell of someone I'm into wonderful - I guess its that pheremone thing.

Nothing like climing into an empty bed that still smells of the one you care about... *wibble*

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 05:57 (twenty-two years ago)

i've rarely been the same clothing size as someone i've been out with..

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 06:04 (twenty-two years ago)

my bed dosen't smell much at all these days.

*choking up*

*sob*

― Chris Radford (Chris Radford), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 06:08 (twenty-two years ago)

try peeing in it. that'll do the trick.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 06:12 (twenty-two years ago)

well, it doesn't smell to you. to her, on the other hand...

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 06:16 (twenty-two years ago)

(this isn't something I'm making up, btw, I have it on pretty good authority i.e. just about every woman I've ever been involved with)

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 06:18 (twenty-two years ago)

i've rarely been the same clothing size as someone i've been out with..

But tshirts, Jim! I mean, I'd fit into your tshirts I reckon...

er not that I'm suggesting anything dodgy here, haha. ;P

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 06:21 (twenty-two years ago)

oh it positively reeks of me

― Chris Radford (Chris Radford), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 06:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Just not of a lovely lass, eh?

Theres only one thing worse - a bed that does still smell like the guy who's decided to stop seeing you *sigh blubber* :(

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 06:27 (twenty-two years ago)

no lovely lass for this little black duck.

*quack*

― Christopher William Radford (Chris Radford), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 06:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't it just a way of entangling yourself with someone? Like leaving your book accidentally at their place, or something. I would never dare to do that, but I'd do the clothes swap thing. It's nice, Christopher, that you don't feel obliged to make up some rubbish about how you 'can't stand the clinginess' and it's 'bizarre women's behaviour'.

― Jody C, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 07:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the clothes swaping thing def. When my boy is out or away on business i always wears t-shirts or jumpers as they smell of him & it's lovely & comforting. I like the bed smelling of a loved one too! My boy always moves over to my side of the bed in the mornings (i get up first) as he says it smells of me. awwww!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 09:20 (twenty-two years ago)

dressup is fun, thats what its all about. i still have a jacket belonging to an ex, its far from being my favourite jacket but it is the warmest and has the biggest pockets.

― di smith (lucylurex), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 09:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Items of clothing lost to relationships > Items clothing gained from relationships.

Im losing badly.

Mainly in jumpers.

Although I have gained items of womens undergarments, they're just not as practical as a jumper.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 10:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I've got it on
Yr favourite tee
It never looked as good on you
As it looks on me...

Good ol' Evan Dando :)

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 11:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I have the same problem as jim; I don't think most boys I've gone out with would fit even my tshirts. They're mostly pale blue or some other girly color anyway, so it's probably just as well.

The craziest sharing I've ever done was using some of my (male) best friend's deoderant once; we'd gone to the gym together, then to his place to eat dinner, and I desperately needed some. It felt a bit weird to be smelling like Old Spice or whatever his was.

― lyra (lyra), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 13:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I hadn't thought of it before, but I don't think me and my ex exhanged a single item of clothing. Maybe he ended up with a pair of my socks or something. But I like the idea.

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I get it where SHE wants to/does wear my clothes, mainly shirts or sweaters, but I rarely get anything in return. Though one girl I was dating gave me a big bag of her previous bf's clothes. That was sort of disturbing. Like, did she want me to BE him?

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

or like, what if I ran into him while with her and wearing his clothes?
that would just fuck him up.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

crikey, that happened to me also. handed down a pair of shorts originating from her ex/flatmate.

― Chris Radford (Chris Radford), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:19 (twenty-two years ago)

This has never come up, I am not girly sized, or at least I've never been in a relationship with anyone my size.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Once you're living with someone, especially if they're roughly the same gender and size as you, you can go to extremes to ensure that you have some clothes that are just yours. It was very convenient, living with my ex, that I wore black socks and he wore grey socks.

― Chris P (Chris P), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:48 (twenty-two years ago)

however, this doesn't stop suzy from stealing items of my clothing. I lost the use of one of my coats all through the latter part of the winter and into spring and I often find my jackets with the sleaves rolled up.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:50 (twenty-two years ago)

i like this very much... a girl in your striped sweater on a sunday afternoon is so francoise hardy

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 15:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Seconded. And what Jody C said.

I have a novelty t-shirt with an actual picture of an ex-girlfriend on the front, the kind you can get at the mall.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

The girlfriend or the shirt? Where is this mall?

― felicity (felicity), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Items gained from my last relationship = 1 cardigan, 2 sweaters, 1 long-sleeve shirt (oddly enough, her brother's originally), 1 pair of boxers (oddly enough, her ex-boyfriend's originally).

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I bought her at "Stacie's Gifts", she was crouching in the corner and hadn't been fed in days

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

now that's just gross, wearing the ex-bf's gotch. just wrong on so many levels.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 15:59 (twenty-two years ago)

My wife likes to wear my t-shirts to bed after I've worn them all day. My pillow smells like hamsters.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 16:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree with the entanglement theory. It's odd when you are dating someone and the person painfully and visibly hesitates about lending you a CD or book, as if you need to sign a dating prenup ensuring that in case of a breakup you will get the stuff back to them without causing a scene. Maybe it shows that the person's approach to breakups is just to suddenly stop seeing or talking to the person altogether. Hmm, that seems like a bad sign.

― felicity (felicity), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

suzy also has jumpers belonging to gareth and ambrose, should I be worried? No, but they should be worried about never getting their jumpers back.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)

jumpers?
meaning bodysuits? meaning:
http://www.jordans-elvis-world.com/jan02/2.jpg

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 16:16 (twenty-two years ago)

eeeaararruughhh, hell no.

I mean woollen knitwear to cover the upper half of the body, but without buttons.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 16:20 (twenty-two years ago)

aka, sweaters, which is what we call them here in the colonies (where proper English is spoken).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

My wife had a hat when we first got together from her ex boyfriend. I lit it on fire drunk one night.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

damn, I thought maybe there was some sort of kinky Elvis-fetish sex going with ILXers.
Not that I'd really want to know more about it other than that it's happening. Details are SOOO unnecessary when it comes to people's sex lives.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe it shows that the person's approach to breakups is just to suddenly stop seeing or talking to the person altogether. Hmm, that seems like a bad sign.

I've had ex's do this to me :-/ And the current sort-of-ex (in that we never really went out, just friends that dated) has actually said to me recently that hes tryin to make an effort to keep communicating but that it isnt easy "most people I know just totally cut off all communication at this point". I think he comes from another planet. Or maybe thats boys in general.

I still have his precious mull bowl though, so.. *evil look*.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 21:47 (twenty-two years ago)

i think if it comes too early the woman might just be marking her territory? C or D?
depends on the lover i suppose.

Sitting here wishing on a cement floor
Just wishing that I had just something you wore

Bloody your hands on a cactus tree
Wipe it on your dress and send it to me

Sitting here wishing on a cement floor
Just wishing that I had just something you wore

― kephm, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 22:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I love that song, there's something so visceral about it.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 22:19 (twenty-two years ago)

mull bowl? isn't mull a type of silk?

― kephm, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 22:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I dunno that song. Great lyrics. What is it?

― Rufus King, Thursday, 5 June 2003 02:33 (twenty-two years ago)

'cactus' by pixies

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 5 June 2003 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

"tulle"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 5 June 2003 04:28 (twenty-two years ago)

My favorite "I'm having a bad day and don't want to wear clothes but I'll put on a shirt 'cause I don't want people to think that I'm in a funk-" shirt belongs to my non-live-in. I swiped it from his closet - it's all soft and warm and baggy and wonderful. Later he told me that three of his previous lovers had also fallen in love with the shirt and had all worn it. And that he'd worn it maybe twice in all of those years he'd had it in his closet. I think there's a moral here, but I don't know what it might be.

I gave him a sweatshirt I used to wear, though. He says it's sexy. I always thought it was tacky.

Chris V - what was that about smelling hamsters?

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Friday, 6 June 2003 02:35 (twenty-two years ago)

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