What clothes have you owned again and again?

Since you were a child

In The Good Ship Find Your Creative Voice course we delve into what makes you YOU. Exploring the stuff you love, and have always loved (the weirder the better) and how it will shape your creative work.

One of the questions we ask to help you excavate your unique youness is this: What clothes have you owned again and again since you were a child?’

In my case it’s a pair of slightly too short navy blue cords. I wore a pair as a child, often in the form of dungarees, I wore navy cords at art school with a too tight vintage gingham blouse and I am wearing a pair right now with a swingy wooly jumper. I hope I will be wearing a pair as an old lady in my retirement village for artists (if there is such a thing, I hope so. If not, let’s start one.)

I joined

Jane Porter

’s brilliant Comic Class this week and Jane asked us all to draw a very speedy shorthand portrait of ourselves. Something that is quick and easy to draw and sums us up. I drew myself in my favourite navy blue cords of course. (Here’s the comic diary I made at the class, based on real events in the Stephens household this week. Read down the columns)

Another key moment in my childhood wardrobe was when I was about ten years old I was given a red cotton dress - a hand-me-down from a family friend. I loved wearing it with my emerald green school cardigan. The complementary colours vibrated off each other making my eyes feel fizzy, and I loved it.

Then there are the clothes that we saw around us as kids. I grew up near a convent and I loved catching the occasional glimpse of a nun. To me they looked so stylish in their ankle length habits, wimpoles and sensible lace-ups. I wasn’t sure what they did, but what I DID know is that they looked different to all the women I knew, and I thought that made them stylish and rebellious and I wanted a piece of that action.

Until recently I assumed I was a strange kid. Who else admired nun’s habits as a form of rebellion? But then I listened to Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud. In this episode Kristin Scott Thomas talks about being inspired by complementary colour clashing and NUNS! I couldn't believe my ears. There’s also a brilliant episode with Nick Cave where he describes himself as wanting to look like a ‘big old spider’.

While I am confessing my more ‘interesting’ style icons, I should tell you that I have a thing for Nora Batty. The layers of sensible woollies, the apron, those wrinkly stockings and the girlish shoes with pretty little bows, she’s like a big cuddly toddler. Adorable.

Do you have any fashion obsessions, things you have owned again and again throughout your life? What are your fashion influences? This is a safe space, you won't be judged. (Well, maybe twenty Hail Marys for the really weird stuff 😝)

Love Helenx

P.S. If you want to explore more of what makes you YOU and how it influences your creative work you can climb aboard our Find Your Creative Voice course. We are giving everyone who joins before the end of January some special VIP Good Ship stickers and the chance to win a 1:1 mentoring session. Hooo boy, you're in for a treat!

P.P.S. There’s a new episode of our Good Ship podcast out today! 🥳