People have been admiring the newly appeared patches on my favourite corduroy trousers. Some have asked if it is a fashion statement. I have denied this. However the statement “I repair my clothes” is coming through loud and clear. The rip in my trouser knee occurred one Friday morning when I was running to catch a train. I was unharmed but the tear in my right knee was huge and impossible to repair invisibly. The trousers were otherwise as good as new (Not quite… I had previously replaced a broken waist clasp with a button and button hole and also attached brace buttons)
In the Liverpool Biennial last year I met Lee Mingwei who was doing a “mending project“. The premise for Mingwei’s project was a). Bringing people together as communities and b). The visible repair of clothing and other items. Mingwei believes, as do I, that clothing isn’t supposed to be thrown away at the first sign of damage. But repaired, maintained and invested with personal value.
Where Mingwei and I differed was that I tried to keep the repairs a secret. Using perfectly matching thread and trying to hide the repair. I have now come round to Mingwei’s way of thinking. The tear represents a moment and a memory in your life and should be celebrated with contrasting threads and brightly coloured beads to demonstrate your pride in the fact that you repair your clothes! I asked him at the time if I could copy him, and he said yes. So today I did some more visible mends. Two more to join Mingwei’s original on my favourite waistcoat, and one on a recent tear on my favourite coat.
