Worn Stories

Emily Spivack

Aug 2014 · Chronicle Books

About this ebook

The New York Times–bestselling volume of mini-memoirs exploring the personal histories we carry in treasured articles of clothing—now a Netflix docuseries.

Everyone has a memoir in miniature in at least one piece of clothing. In Worn Stories, Emily Spivack has collected over sixty of these clothing-inspired narratives from cultural figures and talented storytellers. First-person accounts range from the everyday to the extraordinary, such as artist Marina Abramovic on the boots she wore to walk the Great Wall of China; musician Rosanne Cash on the purple shirt that belonged to her father; and fashion designer Cynthia Rowley on the Girl Scout sash that informed her business acumen.

Other contributors include Greta Gerwig, Heidi Julavits, John Hodgman, Brandi Chastain, Marcus Samuelsson, Piper Kerman, Maira Kalman, Sasha Frere-Jones, Simon Doonan, Albert Maysles, Susan Orlean, Andy Spade, Paola Antonelli, David Carr, Andrew Kuo, and more. By turns funny, tragic, poignant, and celebratory, Worn Stories offers a revealing look at the clothes that protect us, serve as a uniform, assert our identity, or bring back the past—clothes that are encoded with the stories of our lives.

Ratings and reviews

Worn Stories is a true gem of a book so difficult to find these days. Each time I read a chapter and decide it's my favorite, the next one resonates just as harmonically and hits home just as truly. This is fine, fine work.

About the author

Emily Spivack is a Brooklyn-based artist, writer, and editor who created the Smithsonian's blog Threaded and collects stories for the Internet found-art project Sentimental Value. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.