The one piece of clothing that I loved the most was bought for me by my Nan from Peacocks. It was a long, white, metallic looking dress that had embroidered flowers down the front. From the day I was born, my Nan was always the one that dressed me in the girliest dresses and put ribbons in my hair. I loved it. What young girl wouldn’t want to be dressed in pretty frilly dresses so that you feel like a princess?
Although I’m probably speaking for most of us girls when saying we preferred dresses to jeans when we were younger, there was more to it than just feeling pretty. Having young parents meant that they couldn’t afford much, they dressed me in whatever they had time to throw me in before work. My Mom would put me in clothes that were not colour coordinated in the slightest, imagine a green velvet shirt with a fuchsia pink faux fur coat.
They also separated when I was young, having to witness constant arguments and fights made me want to be with my Nan even more and it created a bond between us that we still have to this day. Having to sit on the top of the stairs at night and watch your parents fight is something you’ll never forget. Spending so much time at my Nan’s house has given me my idea of the ‘perfect family’ and has made me want something like it in the future. It was the place I felt safe, the place where no matter what was going on at home I could just forget everything, it was my happy place.
No matter what I was doing or where I was going I always wanted to wear this shimmery looking outfit that looked like a bridesmaid’s dress. Looking back now I would say it wasn’t the most day appropriate dress but my Nan would let me wear it anyway. I wore it with a white cardigan that had short sleeves and with white ribbons in my hair. I loved wearing it because I loved being dressed up, I felt like a Disney princess and I knew my Nan also loved me wearing it.
The dress even came with me on holidays, I wore it on the night when we were going out for food, I just felt so done up and special wearing it. Despite the fact that my Mum told me that I couldn’t wear it out, my Nan always let me anyway.
I never realised how much this dress meant to me until a few months back when my Nan was having a clear out. When I was asked “Can I throw this dress out or take it to the car boot?” I immediately knew that the answer was no. I can’t say that I have had this dress out the wardrobe for about five years but I just wasn’t ok with someone else wearing it.
Although a lot of the time there was something going on at home that I wasn’t happy about, as soon as I walked into my Nan’s house I could just forget about it, put on a pretty dress and pretend that everything was ok. Yet when I was asked whether or not it could be thrown out, I think I realised that there was so much more to this dress than I knew. It made me realise that no matter where I was in the world, my happy place was wherever my Nan was, wearing something that she wanted me to wear.
