Just think. If no one had saved the knee britches and buckled shoes of the colonial period, we wouldn’t have them to laugh at today. Clothes are one of the fastest and slowest forms of human expression to change. And, not knowing how fashion will change in the long term means you cannot predict which items should be saved for posterity. But the clothing of today may well be a great way to explain our society in the future, as Victorian corsets explain why women fainted all the time.

Maybe, some day, shoes like this will not exist outside of a museum.

Conserving clothing is not a trivial matter either. After choosing what should be saved, it has to be cleaned (and not ironed) and stored in bug and moisture proof containers. The containers need to be protected from temperature swings and humidity. And, after all that, all you have is old clothes. But they are a window into anoth er time. Even today, the fashions of the early 1960s demonstrate the youth culture that arose. The bright, saturated colors and disregard for practicality mirror basic concepts of the time.

I expect ties will go the way of the dinosuars in another 50-60 years.

So, what items of clothing worn today, will epitomize this time and place. Camo cargo pants? Flannel pajamas? Clogs? I don’t know. But surely something from this era warrants preservation. We seem to have a new fad once or twice a year, and sometimes if you are not quick, you miss it altogether. What do you wear until it falls apart? Buy two and put one away. If nothing else, your grandchildren can use it for costumes.

Once a woman would not leave home without a hat and gloves.

Hats are always good collectibles. Right now fashion dictates not wearing a hat for most people, by they are still around. Cowboys have their hats, gimme hats proliferate, and northern climes still require knitted hats for preservation of life. But what other hats are around?

Some fashions indicate a person's origins.

There are specialty hats, like the curling stone hat seen at the Vancouver Olympics and the helmet-like hat for hockey fans. I personally am preserving both a lobster hat and a moose hat. And I look stupid in nice hats. But I will save these hats, because some day, a hundred years from know, someone will say, “What is a moose hat?” and there will be one to answer that question.

So what fashions are you going to preserve?

* * * For ideas, see ladies designer clothes. * * *

* * * Gold jewelry is a valuable and useful fashion collectible. * * *

* * * For something completely different, read about sleigh beds. * * *

The images on this post are from Stock Xchnge.

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