Can I borrow that?July 12th, 2006 @ 6:59 am
When I was in junior high and high school I used to borrow clothes from my friend Jamie all the time. (I am so dorky when it comes to making up pseudonyms.) She was a year younger than I was, so we didn’t go to the same school. This worked out perfectly for me.
My family was poor so I never had good clothes. Jamie’s family didn’t have any more money than we did, but she had way nicer clothes. Clothes that she always let me borrow.
I would call Jamie at night on the phone and request a specific outfit. She would then met me at the fence and hand it over. She was always so eager to let me borrow things. I loved it when Jamie would want to borrow something of time, but that rarely ever happened. I had two Gap shirts that I bought at Ross Dress for Less that she liked, but besides that I didn’t have anything she wanted.
Jamie on the other hand had tons of things I wanted to borrow. She had this great khaki shirt and too many striped shirts to count (I was really in stripes). She also had this awesome white sweater. I thought I looked so great in it, so I loved to borrow it.
Then one day I ruined the sweater. I got some bright blue ink on it in my Dad’s graphic art class. Bright blue ink. On Jamie’s white sweater. It was so ruined.
I was horrified.
Since Jamie didn’t go to my school, I had to actually call her on the phone and break the bad news to her. I was so scared. Would she hate me? Would she yell? Would she cry? Would she make me buy her a new sweater with my non existent money? Would she tell her parents on me? And what if, gasp, she wouldn’t let me borrow her clothes anymore? I would be forced to wear my same two Gap shirts every day and my one pair of Jordache jeans.
I called Jamie and told her. She wasn’t mad. She wasn’t worried about it at all. She didn’t even tell me to buy her a new sweater. She thought the existing sweater was still wearable (it wasn’t) and that maybe we could get the blue ink out of it (we couldn’t). She did request that I buy her some new shirts to equal the amount of the cost of the ruined sweater. Which, to be frank, I don’t think I ever did.
The worst part was that both of our parents said we couldn’t loan each other our clothes anymore. This was the worst punishment I could have imagined.
How could my parents not understand that I needed Jamie’s clothes? I had to have them. I truly needed them. I needed her khaki shirt and her button down Gap shirt. I needed her striped shirts. Without them I would be lost. And also terribly dressed.
Jamie could have cared less about this punishment. So what. So she couldn’t wear my two shirts. She still had her awesome skirt. She was set. And stylish.
Eventually Jamie started to let me borrow her things again. I was back to being barely presentable at school. (I still had the hair down to my butt, which wasn’t really a good look for me. I’ll admit it.) She really was a good friend to let me wear her things. I tried extra hard to keep them in good shape. I even wore an apron when I was in my Dad’s class.
I always wore borrowed clothes. I wore a borrowed dress to my first semi-formal dance. I wore a borrowed outfit in my family photo (my Mom also wore something borrowed from another friend). I wore a borrowed dress to my high school graduation.
I’m pretty sure this scarred me for life.
Now that I’m an adult I never borrow clothes from my friends (except for the boxes and boxes of maternity clothes my bestest friend gave me). I’m always trying to get more clothes. Since I still don’t have very much money, I always get my clothes on sale. My goal in life is to have a closet full of clothes. Clothes, clothes, clothes.
The kicker was when I got back from shopping at the Gap last weekend and realized I had bought the exact same (black) shirt that I had bought on my previous trip to the Gap.
Exact same shirt.
That I already owned.
Maybe I should pack it up and send it to Jamie. I probably owe her.
Back in the Day · Me · They're just my friends
jessica
said,
July 12, 2006 at 5:18 pm
It must be a great shirt!
Amy
said,
July 12, 2006 at 5:39 pm
I think that would be nice to surprise Jamie with a shirt. I bet she’d love it, too, because you two must have the same taste in clothes.
Mrs. Flinger
said,
July 12, 2006 at 6:34 pm
Oh, I’ve done that. Or I happen to buy a shirt very near to what I own. Actually, I do that all the time. It’s how I have so much brown in my closet.
HollowSquirrel
said,
July 12, 2006 at 6:50 pm
You should look up Jamie and see how she is…perhaps she’s in desperate need of a black shirt. Who isn’t in need of a new black shirt?
This story reminds me of high school and loaning clothes to Heather and taking way more than my fair share of gum from my friend, Pam. I truly owe Pam a truckload of Extra.
Carrisa
said,
July 12, 2006 at 7:09 pm
I was never really able to borrow much in the way of clothes from my BFF because she’s 6 feet tall (even in high school) and I stopped growing at 5 feet. Well except for the in the belly and thigh and boob regions… they seems to still keep growing… so um yeah… not too familiar with this whole borrowing concept.
But you seem to have my love for black clothing. I’ve tried to branch out a bit this year, but my heart always finds its way back to black clothes. Oh how I heart thee!
Ella
said,
July 12, 2006 at 7:09 pm
Send the new shirt to Jamie. I think she might appreciate the sweet thought.
Jessie
said,
July 12, 2006 at 7:29 pm
We didn’t have a lot either when I was younger, but unfortunately I was way taller than all my friends (5′9″ at 12) so none of their stuff ever fit.
I did, however, lend out many of my formal dresses to my sister’s friends when they needed them. They weren’t things that I was going to wear again and I got such a kick out of seeing someone who needed a nice dress getting one to wear for free. Even my sister wore some of my hand-me-downs (she’s even taller than me) and since she’s drop dead gorgeous and has a practically perfect body, they all looked better on her than they ever did on me. I still liked the fact that the dresses got to be a part of so many people’s (hopefully) fun high school memories.
Denzylle
said,
July 12, 2006 at 7:46 pm
That brought back memories for me as my family was also poor and I never had great clothes like my friends did. We wore uniform for school (I’m in England), but it ruined any chance of a social life not having anything to wear.
But, even if your parents couldn’t afford to help you out, didn’t they ever feel ‘guilty’ or apologise when they always saw you wearing your friend’s clothes? They must have noticed…
Jezer
said,
July 12, 2006 at 8:42 pm
I can so relate to this post. While I didn’t have anyone to borrow clothes from, I did have an older cousin who passed her clothes (which were nicer than anything my parents would/could have bought) down to me. Now, when my SILs bring over boxes of Al’s cousins’ old clothes, I get a surge of excitement much like I did back then.
And I love Ross.
Courtney
said,
July 12, 2006 at 9:32 pm
Awww… what a sweet childhood memory. Best friends are great like that, aren’t they!?
Durga
said,
July 12, 2006 at 9:57 pm
All Hail the school uniform! So I didnt have to borrow any clothes to school. And thanks to the ‘dish cloth’ looking school dress in junior school and white shirt and grey pants in high school the rich, trendy girls didnt get to show off their fancy clothes. Well except for once a year during ‘Jeans for Jeans day’ for charity. But that was OK coz almost everyone had a ONE great outfit! Yay!
haggalicious
said,
July 13, 2006 at 1:59 am
OH, I used to be such a borrower too, from roommates in college. They always had WAY better clothes than me. Now when I look back, though, I feel really bad for borrowing all the time. Kinda makes me feel like I must have been a big mooch, even though I always asked first. And I have had the same scarring effect as you: I am ALWAYS wanting to buy new clothes. Despite the fact that my closet is not only full, but overflowing…Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to get a bigger closet!!
Nap Queen
said,
July 13, 2006 at 3:12 am
Oh, I can totally relate
We never got cute stuff until I was in high school. My parents were SOOOO frugal. I wore clothes that my grandma made me. And not cute things. Really ugly things. When I got hand-me-downs from my sister (she had a job and bought her own clothes), I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I remember she had this Esprit shirt that Alyssa Milano wore on Who’s The Boss, and whenever I wore that shirt, I thought I was hot shit.
I have the same need to have a closet full of clothes. And, like you, they are all on sale. Too bad we can’t go shopping together. I bet we would find some great deals
Christar
said,
July 13, 2006 at 1:01 pm
I had really nice clothes growing up (at least I thought so) and I was always super paranoid to share any of them with my friends. They always wanted to do the swapping~clothes thing, but I always said that my mom wouldn’t let me, which was partially true, but I didn’t want to because I was affraid my clothes would get ruined. Then the one time that I trusted one of my friends with a peice of clothing, they ruined it.
Jennifer
said,
July 13, 2006 at 1:20 pm
I’ve definitely done the same thing at the Gap… been totally psyched because I found a cute shirt on a great sale, and then come home and realize I have the same one already. Or… I’ll order a shirt that looks really cute online, and then when it comes I realize it’s the exact same thing as one I already bought in the store.
I have problems. The Gap is an addiction.
Frema
said,
July 13, 2006 at 3:08 pm
I had crappy clothes in middle school, so I can totally relate. My mom would never have let us borrow anything, but seeing as the girls were wearing bodysuits with their boobs pushed out, and I was into Looney Tunes sweatshirts, I wouldn’t have wanted to, anyway.
Hooray for having money as an adult!
Chas
said,
July 13, 2006 at 5:20 pm
My best friend growing up also was a year younger, went to a different school, had a family in the same income bracket but somehow managed to have way more than I ever did (her parents were in debt up to their eyeballs). Her grandma also bought her TONS of clothes, and I always wore the same crap over and over. I remember wearing holes in my one pair of Guess jeans (back when Guess was cool)in 7th grade that we got at the Guess outlet store. Then the next year I had one pair of Levis that had a slightly purple tint, and I loved them…but they were my only pair of jeans. Good grief; it’s all made me such a bargain shopper today.
Lisa B
said,
July 13, 2006 at 9:41 pm
Growing up, I ALOT of time time wearing hand-me downs and begging people to loan me clothes. (If my parents bought me new clothes it was that scratchy, ugly, cheap crap from Wal-Mart.) So I know what you mean. Once I got a full time job out of college and had a paycheck — the money that wasn’t spent on rent/car payments was spent on clothes. My thinking? “Screw food!” And “If I want a beer, I can always flirt with some guy and he’ll buy me one!”
Now that I stay-home, the wardrobe is sort of sucky but yeah, I don’t borrow clothes any more!
Isn’t it funny though how things like that can shape our attitudes into our adulthood?
desiree
said,
July 13, 2006 at 11:33 pm
I was really poor too and wore hand-me-downs from neighbors and cousins and anybody that gave me clothes for years. To this day I can’t bear to pay full price for something. Maybe, like your commenters say, we all just shop sales because who can manage to pay 80 for a shirt? Of course, I never quite got over being poor so I still don’t have much but its enough for now.
You don’t speak spanish? Hmmmm. I could help.
I linked over from hollowsquirrel.
hola, isabel » Backstage pass
said,
July 25, 2006 at 10:49 pm
[...] My friend Jamie and I had tickets together. And although NKOTB weren’t popular anymore, we were still mildly excited to go to the show. My Dad was even nice enough to drive us around the venue earlier in the day in hopes of actually seeing one of them. (I wanted to see Joey. Because he was oh, so dreamy.) I’m not sure why we thought one of them would just be walking around the parking lot at the auditorium, but we did. Of course we didn’t see anything, and we were surprised that we didn’t. [...]
clothes-pregnancy.burberryclothes
said,
September 8, 2007 at 7:27 am
[...] [...] ?monumental site now chew over this synopsis http://holaisabel.com/blog/2006/07/12/can-i-borrow-that and give comments [...] clothes-pregnancy.burberryclothes [...]
hola, isabel » Blog Archive » Red Devil Pride Never Dies
said,
November 12, 2007 at 6:23 pm
[...] Yep, that’s me as a junior in high school. (And wearing a shirt borrowed from my friend Jamie.) [...]