People Tell Us About the Clothes That Make Them Feel Cute

This article originally appeared on VICE UK.


Everyone has at least one thing in their wardrobe that they know they look good in. The thing that, even if you’re debilitatingly hungover and have open sores on your face, you can throw on in the knowledge it will make you feel reasonably normal and less like a human sewer.

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We spoke to six people about the clothes that make them feel cute.

TABITHA, 26

It’s this heavy deep blue suede jacket, with pretty white stitching and slightly tacky gold buttons. It’s some 70s cowboy shit – fake fur lining, boss level lapels. I saw it and had to have it; I love how original it is. It looks way more expensive than it was. If I wear it when I’m in a good mood it makes me feel like I can balance the masculine and feminine sides of myself more gracefully, which is also a pretty sexy way to feel.

JUICE, 28

On the face of it it’s a very basic item: a white puffa coat. I love winter and the cold season, and down jackets and puffa coats are my thing. I’ve got at least 12, but this one is my favourite. I call them “fat coats” and think they’re highly underrated – a lot of girls think you can’t look sexy in a puffa, but I don’t agree: if you can rock a fat coat with your outfit, your ratings go up for me.

Although this one is a recent addition to my collection, I’ve worn it loads since I got it. It’s mad warm, has a high neck and, most importantly, it’s white, which means that not only does it accentuate my ever-fading tan over the winter months, but also looks wavey with pretty much everything. The only downside is that the white colour and high neck combination leads to some visible bronzer residue situations, but I’ve got to fake a glow somehow.

GREG, 24

Back in 2013, Mark McNairy previewed these dungarees in his S/S14 runway show, made from this desert tiger camo ripstop fabric with daisies embroidered all over in a polka dot pattern. The moment I saw them it was like, “Right. Those. Mine.” I knew it was going to be at least like six months until they released them, but I still checked his notoriously crap website on a weekly basis in the hopes that they’d be there. Spring came and went, and there was still no sign of them. I’d basically concluded that they were just a “statement piece”, or something they weren’t going to actually release. Then one week they were there, and in my size. I bought them so fast my wallet got whiplash. To this day they remain my favourite piece of clothing in my wardrobe. They’re summery as hell, like proper sunshine and smiling faces, so there’s probably about eight days in the British calendar where it’s actually weather-appropriate to wear them, but the moment the flowers start coming out in the spring I put them on: they’re basically my own personal springtime signifier. Whenever I wear them I feel like the cutest thing in the world. Every time I wear them out I get people coming up to me telling me how much they love them, how cool they are, and all I say back is, “I know.”

ALEX, 26

At some point during the summer just gone by I took a little break from getting fucked up on the weekends and had a stint of sobriety. I bought a blank white denim jacket off eBay and set about making the jacket above. It took three long days of drawing and painting to complete it. I’d drawn the cartoon at an earlier date, inspired by the shape of my drunken weekends, and missing them motivated me to revisit it and paint the jacket. I feel a bit on edge about ruining it when I wear it, so try to be selective about where I wear it; I’ve already got a few annoying stout stains on it. I always get a lot of positive attention for it, too, which is nice.

NADINE, 28

When I bought the kilt it was knee length and I cut it way too short but loved it. It’s still my safety piece when I can’t be arsed thinking of what to wear. Dressed up or down, through winter and summer, it’s really been there for me. I didn’t expect to feel so sentimental about it when I bought it but I’ve had it for almost ten years now, so it’s seen it all. It’s so done in now that I have to use safety pins to hold it together, but I don’t care – it’s still my fave.

LILY, 27

These sunglasses are the leftover currency of a past relationship; a physical reminder of the memories I once shared with a really special person. They suit me down to a tee. That’s just what my boyfriend at the time knew. I know you shouldn’t place emotional value in monetary goods, but I look good in these sunglasses and remember being in love when I wear them.

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