Everyone has a memoir in miniature in at least one piece of clothing.

Look through the archive of clothes in your closet. Pick one to three garments (not jewelry) that have been good luck charms, connected to a life-changing experience, or worn, for example, while voluntarily directing traffic during a citywide blackout—clothing in which something spectacular, unexpected, weird or wonderful happened while you were wearing it. For each garment, recall where you got it, when you’ve worn it, and why it means something to you. Be sure to bring those garments with you to the workshop. We’ll discuss your garment, consider how best to approach your story, and spend time writing a short piece related to that item of clothing.

This workshop is an extension of Worn Stories, a book and web project in which Emily Spivack collects stories about clothing and memory.

Emily Spivack

Emily Spivack is an artist, writer, and editor whose New York Times best selling book, Worn Stories, a collection of stories about clothing and memory, was published in 2014. Emily culls stories about clothing from eBay posts for a website she curates, Sentimental Value, and she created Threaded, the Smithsonian’s clothing history blog. Emily has been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, NPR, and The Wall Street Journal.

Worn Stories at ICA is in the museum’s four-session spring/summer workshop series Writing Art and Life. Discover critical, fiction, and nonfiction readings; share your encounters with art and objects; and tell your own personal stories in this four-session spring/summer workshop, which is part of Philadelphia’s New Art Writing Symposium, organized by The St.Claire and The Artblog.

Sign up for the session that piques your interest, or immerse yourself in all four workshops. (Please bring a notebook and pencil.)
Do/Tell: Erin Bernard, Heather Hart, Rachelle Mozman, and Akosua Adoma Owusu