Band Tees & Summer Memories
No matter the decade, nostalgia will never go out of style. It’s why fashion rotates and why some of us can’t let go of our highschool prom fit or baby blanket. Our pieces connect us with our memories.
Regardless of your style, your closet is full of memories. Like our sense of smell, the right piece will always bring us back.
No matter the decade, nostalgia will never go out of style. It’s why fashion rotates and why some of us can’t let go of our high school prom fit or baby blanket. Our pieces connect us with our memories.
Some pieces remind us of loved ones long gone, like my Packers crewneck sweater that belonged to my Papa. Others anchor you to your culture and roots, like the jade necklace my uncle gave me for protection and luck. But most commonly, your pieces and clothes will connect you to moments. The power blazer you wore when you kicked ass in that interview. The first suit or dress you wore when you transitioned. The heels from that date, the jacket from that trip, the red scarf your ex left at your sister’s house — a hundred mini memories, all living in your closet.
Like anyone, my closet is chock full of tiny memoirs; some make me cringe, while others drag out smiles. My favorite memory, though, living among my hangers, is a butterscotch yellow band tee with the phrase, “Take Me”, in black font. It is a shirt I have worn with many outfits and was bought at none other than an Aly & AJ concert.
The people that get it, get it.
Aly & AJ had a chokehold on me in middle school right up there with Paramore and Avril Lavigne (happy 20th anniversary by the way to those of us that celebrate). The Michalka sisters were pop with just enough angst to attract my little punk rocker self. And in 2018, a year after their official comeback, I discovered they would be going on tour in the very city I lived in.
To say I squealed would be accurate. There are a lot of downsides to adulthood; however, having the money to go to concerts is not one of them. I decided to give my inner middle schooler something she had only ever dreamed of — a ticket to their concert.
On the night of June 26, 2018, I stood a few feet away from the stage, surrounded by other former awkward teens and I realized: I was proud of us. I think it is safe to say for a lot of us, middle school was rough. For me, it was filled with fake friends, fake smiles, and a whole lot of hurt and angry journal entries that would never see the light of day, much less get talked about until years later in therapy.
Yet there we all were. We had survived the bullying, puberty, heartbreak, and general terribleness of middle school. We might not have been where we all wanted in life, but we were still collectively able to find joy within four walls of some random venue. As for Aly & AJ, their style had changed but so had ours and yeah, we all looked a little older. But we danced, and we sang our lungs out, once again deeming ”Potential Breakup Song” as our anthem. We remembered the joy their music had given us as teens, and we embraced the music they were giving us now in our adulthood. It was a night filled with camaraderie and bizarre hope and to say I walked to the merch table afterwards would do my feet an injustice.
Over the years, I’ve continued to go to concerts both alone and with friends and I’ve bought other band tees. But that summer concert in 2018 will forever be special. It was the first concert I attended by myself after intentionally choosing to take myself on dates instead of waiting around for a romcom storyline to play itself out. It was also the summer I realized just how strong I really was and how proud my younger self would be of the person I was becoming.
As everything does with time, the pieces in my closet will eventually change or rotate out. But I hope and plan to keep that Aly & AJ shirt for years to come because it showed me that somewhere between middle school and my mid-twenties, I learned to like myself. Scratch that. I chose to love myself. And I’ve got the band tee to prove it.
Caeli Faisst
Caeli (chaylee) is a freelance writer & poet casually chilling in the city of Charlotte. Her work has appeared in Broccoli Magazine, YouVersion, & Carolina Muse to name a few. When she is not writing, one can find Caeli enjoying the outdoor seating of local coffee shops, perusing through web comics, or museum hopping with friends.
