Memory calls: In Malibu with a trunk full of secondhand clothes

Our clothes hold us, shaping our experience and understanding of life in ways both subtle and profound. It’s that feeling of studying a photo of an ancestor, marveling at their outfit, trying to decipher who they were through each stylistic detail. It’s the pain of losing a favorite shirt, the remorse of giving something away too soon or the release of donating once-loved garments, offering them to new people and new perspectives. Wearing preloved clothing carries memory forward and also calls us back.

In many ways, entering a thrift store, shopping secondhand online or even borrowing clothing from a friend is like engaging with one massive lost-and-found bin. Each shop or closet is an amalgamation of history, energy and life, merchandised for discovery. On a sunny October day, we traveled to Malibu with a trunk full of secondhand clothes. With each outfit, we remembered and unearthed a future informed by the past.

Casting: In Search Of
Production: Mere Studios
Model: Sandrine Malary
Grooming: Carla Perez
Photo assistant: Mekael Dawson
Production assistant: Ron Davison

Romany Williams is a writer, editor and stylist based on Vancouver Island, Canada. Her collaborators include SSENSE, Atmos, L.A. Times Image and more.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.