Melanie Valentin Soriano, circular fashion designer

Item: old hip hop band t-shirt
Worn for: 6 years

I was given this t-shirt by my ex-husband after I gave birth to our first child in 2017. When we first started dating there was a Dead Prez song that became our jam. We saw them live back in 2016 and it was the best concert. What we didn’t know was that I was pregnant at the time. So this t-shirt reminds me of when we were young, dumb and having fun. It makes me think of my son as well. 

I do everything in this t-shirt: sleep, party and hang out on my couch. I love that it’s super-oversized and has old paint on it from when we moved into our first apartment. I love that this t-shirt tells our story.

To amp it up I wear it with old, over-the-top earrings that I wore at my wedding and love that juxtaposition. The t-shirt paired with my wedding earrings are a homage to my ex-husband and us. 

I own an upcycling brand called Studio Soriano and do not shop that much. When I do I get very attached to my clothes because they become a part of me and my story in life. So I keep them for a long time. I think that when clothes have a story, it gives them life and that will make people want to take care of it.

Katrine Jensenius, actress

Item: custom-painted dress
Worn for: 19 years

This dress means a lot – it was made especially for me. My husband and I were going to a very important wedding 19 years ago, and I wanted to wear something special. So my very good friend, artist Sunny Asemota, said that he would paint me a dress. I had the dress sewn in white cotton and Sunny painted it in his own wonderful way, with words like HOPE, LIFE; LOVE and BE. In the front he painted a little heart-shaped medal with my initials that in a funny way is supposed to make me feel like a queen!

I wear it whenever there is a special occasion, like when my husband turned 75, and for my own 60th and 70th birthdays. I smile every time I look at it, because I think it’s fantastic to own a piece of art that I actually can wear and dance in. I think it will be my favourite garment for the rest of my life.

On top of the dress I am wearing my beloved leather jacket. My husband bought it for me about 25 years ago, to comfort me after my other leather jacket, an almost  antique thing, finally died.

This one is so smooth and soft and solid that it can be passed on to my granddaughter or my grandson and she or he can have it forever. It goes with everything and I feel kind of cool when I wear it. And I feel comfortable in it because it is a gift from my loved one.

Christian d’Or, DJ and owner of vintage shop

Item: vintage wool coat
Worn for: 12 years

I was looking for a classic trench coat, but when I couldn’t find one, the nice old lady at a thrift store close to my home let me look at the stuff not yet on display. The coat was hanging there in near-new condition, just my size. I’ve worn it every winter since; other coats have worn out, but this one just lasts. The lining is a bit worn now, but there are no holes or anything, the quality is crazy good. Older people often compliment it, some even like to touch the fabric. The lining has a blanket-like feel, and really invites you to just sit in the snow or anywhere you find yourself in cold weather.

Where I grew up, most people thought going to the second hand shops was shameful, something related to poverty. The positive side of this was that the shops were booming with good stuff and it was so cheap. It just grew into a habit to shop second hand and now I own a shop, Mother Interior, selling vintage furniture, records, art and things.

There’s absolutely no need to buy newly produced fashion; the clothes we need for decades to come are already on the planet. The fashion industry is as unsustainable as it gets, and the sooner we realise this, the longer we’ll live. It needs to be regulated by the powers that be, and is not fully up to us, but I feel that I can do something by buying second hand and considering every single purchase of new clothes.

Sahar Pour, acupuncturist at Stikmig

Item: Fido Dido t-shirt
Worn for: 20 years

I’ve had this shirt for two decades. Before me, it belonged to @okayhealme, before that it was his sister’s and before that, it was her older brother’s. So I’m number four to have this shirt!

I like it because it’s soft and loose and really cosy. It’s not too cold and also not too warm. It feels safe and loving to wear it. It has some holes by the elbows and is falling apart very soon I’m afraid. I remember one person asking ‘Why is your shirt so destroyed?’ Other than that I just feel like people around me just accept it.

Even though I’m against consumerism and most commercials today, as a child I loved commercials and saw them a lot because they were so happy and shiny. I remember Fido Dido was a kind of a cool cartoon dude hanging out and that made me feel safe. Those days there weren’t many cartoons on TV.

Waris Ahmad, soon-to-be optometry student

Item: party suit
Worn for: 1 year

I bought this suit and shirt back in 2022 for my high school prom. It was a really cool night. I bought it new and it was quite expensive but I know I’m going to wear it a lot and keep it for a long time.

The reason the suit means a lot to me is because it was really the first time I felt confident and comfortable in a more traditional ‘masculine’ piece of clothing. I have always had a hard time expressing myself through my masculinity but when I tried the suit on a few weeks before my prom, I felt like I saw a new side of myself that I liked.

I think sustainability in the fashion industry is very important and I personally have also bought vintage clothes before. I would definitely love to buy more vintage pieces since I think they can be just as great, if not better than newly produced clothes.

Jørgen Ravn Juncher, nursing home cultural coordinator

Item: my mom’s shirt
Worn for: 7 years

This is a shirt that my mom used to wear. It was her favourite piece when she was going out or hosting one of her many parties, gatherings, dinners, salons, or ‘kitchen meetings’, as we called them. That shirt went together with the pearls, which are also my favourite. It’s proof of our shared taste. Those nights stand as a very vivid memory. So when she passed away, I got the shirt. And the pearls.

Wearing this as a set, which I do five to six times a month, I get the feeling that I find a portal into her, my childhood, a calming happiness and unpretentious vibe to the way I choose to dress. I get compliments wearing it and I enjoy each moment but not necessarily because the compliment itself flatters me but because It creates the key to that same portal to a time when life really was… the best.

Once there was a small tear at the back. It was hard to fix without seven different colours of thread. I got my ex-mother-in-law from Greece to fix it during a trip there. I was with her son for five years and we loved each other very much. In her hands I knew that that shirt would be treated well. As a rule I buy second hand most often. If you take good care of it can last many years.

Lei Miriam Foo, owner of Lei Foo Jewelry and dj

Item: ’70s hat
Worn for: 10 years

I wear this hat in winter andI love that it looks like a fine hat but is knitted on the top, so it also has a ’70s vibe to it. It is my mother’s old hat. She always had a tradition for odd head pieces or hair styles, and she often wore kind of strange hats in winter. The funny thing about this piece is that I used to be very embarrassed when she wore it, because it made her look different than the other mothers.

Then at some point when I got older, I realised that I also appreciate things that are one-of-a-kind, odd or special. And I feel like a lot of what we wear looks the same, especially in the winter with big jackets, so a hat is like the perfect item, to differentiate a bit in the cold and dark winter or in spring and autumn when it’s still cold here.

It makes me feel less boring. A little elegant maybe. I love it because it is so different and I’ve never seen anything the same. But then something funny happened in the supermarket several months ago. A cashier asked me if I was from Kazakhstan. She said the hat looked like something traditional from her hometown. So she thought I was from there too. 

My seven-year-old son has just begun showing an interest in the hat and started wearing it sometimes – I guess he will carry on the tradition.

Prince Henry Kwesi Asare, sociology student, activist, model

Item: mix’n’ match corduroy trousers and blazer
Worn for: 5 years

I bought the blazer at a flea market in 2018. The trousers are from a thrift shop in Manchester which I got a year later, during a trip with my former roommate. He tried them on first, but was unsure if he wanted to buy them. Then I tried them on, suggested we make them a pair of ‘roomie-pants’ that we share. While we lived together, we shared them, and when I moved out they became mine. I didn’t realise that the pants and blazer could be worn together as a suit, until I came back home and saw the blazer in my closet.

I have worn both during some of my best nights out, to great parties and I have great memories of dancing and smiling, linked to them. The items make me feel both comfortable, yet also fancy and distinguished at the same time. They are timeless. The original button of the pants broke, so I had it fixed, which I’m really glad I did instead of just retiring it. I

I don’t buy a lot of new clothes anymore, because I’d rather buy less and use what I already have more. So sometimes I go shopping in my own wardrobe, where I find things I forgot I have, or try to mix and match items in new ways, to create exciting outfits. Nowadays, if I buy new clothes it is mostly vintage or basics, which I need. Like A black T-shirt, or socks. I think it’s important to make clothes last as long as possible, so I try my best to take care of them.