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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. A few months ago we had bestselling author, Emily Spivack on the show to discuss her docu-series, Worn Stories that had recently been released on Netflix. Some of you may remember that. For those of you who missed the segment, the series explores the special meaning that people give to some of the clothing we wear. Last time, our segment got cut a little short because we had a lot going on that day, and we had so many great callers who had called in with stories about your favorite and meaningful pieces in the pandemic that we just couldn't get to. We resolved to do a part two one day and this is that day.

We're going to update it to be about what we're excited to wear as the world reopens as well as the clothing that we came to love during lockdown. This is all based on Emily Spivack's books, Worn Stories, and Worn in New York: 68 Sartorial Memoirs of the City and of course, the new Netflix docu-series, Worn Stories. Thank you for coming back and continuing the conversation with us, Emily. Hi.

Emily Spivack: Hi, thanks for having me back again, Brian.

Brian: Listeners, we'll open up the phones for you right away again, now that the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, we think, is actually here. For those of us who are vaccinated, what is one piece of clothing that you can't wait to get back into, or one piece of clothing that you've come to love during lockdown? 646-435-7280, and of course, that's not our donation line. That's our calling line. We will never ask you for money on the phone. We're just going to ask you what your favorite clothes are. 646-435-7280.

Are you psyched about that work uniform that you haven't worn for a year or putting on a suit or a dress shirt again? What about your date night attire? Were you may be saving an outfit for an event that was canceled because of the pandemic? Anything you're excited to finally debut or thank that certain pair of sweat pants or flip flops that became your best friends since last March. 646-435-7280 on either something you're looking forward to going back to wearing or wearing for the first time as you reopen, or a piece of clothing to thank for its service during the pandemic. 646-435-7280 or tweet your worn stories @BrianLehrer. Emily, do you have one for either of those categories yourself?

Emily: I do. I have been thinking about getting a tuxedo made and just wearing it everywhere. Wearing it to every celebration, every party, every gallery opening, everything, just maybe splurging a little bit, or maybe I'd find a vintage one. I have this vision for a perfect tuxedo that I wear until just absolutely threadbare but that, for me represents celebration in a way. When I'm not doing that I want to wear extremely brightly colored clothes.

Brian: That all makes total sense with what we're talking about. Now, that last time you were here, even just a few months ago, things were a lot different, and now that reopening is not just a light at the end of the tunnel, but in many respects actually here, do you have any expectations of how dressing may change in society at large

after the pandemic? You've just said bright colors for yourself. Do you think that's going to be a thing?

Emily: I think it's going to be a thing. I also think that people are going to reach for clothes in their closet that have some story connected to them that have some memory. Maybe it's going to be less about the thing that's the newest latest, what's in season at the moment, what the designer is, but the thing that actually has some story connected to it and some past, some history. I have a feeling people are going to be drawn to that a little bit more than they were before.

Brian: Do you know the famous tuxedo joke from 30 Rock?

Emily: No.

Brian: It's Alec Baldwin's went character Jack, asked by Liz Lemon, Tina Fey, "Why are you wearing a tux?" He says, "It's after six, what am I? A farmer?" That was consistent with that character I guess. Your tux is in a slightly less potential spirit.

Emily: This is completely playful. This is just like walking down the street in the middle of the day, hopping on the subway wearing a tuxedo, why not? kind of thing. Brian, I have a question. Do you have one? I know I'm putting you on the spot a little bit, but I wanted to ask you last time too.

Brian: I'll give you a really downscale one. I want to go back to a Yankee game. I bought online, a Yankees t-shirt that celebrates Paul O'Neill, for the broadcasting that he did on the play-by-play from his basement in Ohio because they made a kitschy t-shirt that's "Studio 21", that's his old uniform number, "Studio 21. Paul's Basement". It's weird to wear it in the house but going back to the stadium, fun. How about that one?

Emily: I love it. It's great.

Brian: SJ in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, SJ.

SJ: Hi. I have fallen in love with these monochrome yoga outfits that I've ashamedly got maybe 10 since the beginning of quarantine. I owned one beforehand. I've made myself feel better because they are made from recycled water bottles. I've been rationalizing it that way and I honestly think that once I enter the real world, I'm still going to wear them as often as I do now.

Brian: Nice. Are these pieces that you're familiar with, Emily?

Emily: I'm not familiar with them specifically, but definitely with clothing made from recycled materials and recycled water bottles. If you're going to have 10 of them, it seems like the right approach. I do think that there is a conversation about sustainability that's innate with Worn Stories and with this idea of wearing things that have meaning where it's not just about consuming and consuming and consuming. This is along the lines of that.

Brian: Paul in Washington Heights and thanks, SJ. Call us again. Paul. You're on

WNYC. Hi.

Paul: Oh, hi. Thanks for taking my call, Brian. The clothing item that I can't wait to get back into are my dance shoes. I've been doing English country dancing with Country Dance New York for 40 years now, and those shoes have sat idle for a year.

Brian: Nice. We could have used this as a category to just represent, people are excited to put on their dancing shoes again. You're actually talking about dancing shoes?

Paul: I am. Later on, if everything goes well, I'll be putting on either my tux or my 18th century costumes to do our Playford Ball in the spring.

Brian: That is great, Paul. How about shoes as an item in general, Emily, in this respect?

Emily: I think that people, they've probably been holding on to things that they've been dying to wear out. I've got sneakers and I feel like I've amassed a little collection of things that I'm excited to just wear back on the street a little bit more. I think that also shoes are something that just stick with us for a while. Actually, in the show, there's a story about the Sully Sullenberger plane that landed on the Hudson and the person who tells the story, Ben Bostic, it's through the shoes that survived the plane crash. Shoes, they're durable. They stick around for a while.

Brian: Leila in Miami Beach, you are on WNYC Hi, Leila.

Leila: Hi, Brian. Nice to hear your voice. I lived in India for three years and this old man take-- I bought a piece of clothing and he made this kurta for me. I have gained weight, a very stressful year, but it represents all my love that I have for India and all my friends are going through hell right now, complete hell. It's so dear to me.

Brian: For people who don't know that piece of clothing, the kurta, can you describe it?

Leila: Yes, it's like a tunic. They call it a kurta but it's a tunic, one of those nice tunics. It's 30 inches long, so it ends on your mid-thigh. It usually has a Chinese collar and it has three quarters sleeve. This is made with Indian cotton. One of the things that I don't think a lot of people know is Indian cotton has not only an incredible history, but it is one of the softest, more than Egyptian cotton. Indian it's super soft and it's absolutely delicious, especially down in here with a humid and hot weather that we usually have.

Brian: Nice. Nice, Leila. Thank you. Thank you so much. Johanna, is it Johanna or Joanna? in Randolph. Hi.

Johanna: Johanna. Yes. Hi.

Brian: What are you looking forward-

Johanna: I'm a big fan of the show.

Brian: Thank you.

Johanna: Well, I have a bit of an unorthodox answer. I've been pregnant during this pandemic, so I've actually been, I think, maybe even more grateful than other people to be home more and in comfortable clothes more just since being pregnant is an uncomfortable situation. Any time you can increase your comfortable clothes, that's been a real treat for me.

The thing I'm actually most looking forward to wearing over the summer is my baby because I was able to get vaccinated. I have antibodies, my baby has antibodies and I feel like, I think they're opening up and more people are getting vaccinated it will be safer for me to be outside wearing my baby, which earlier in the pandemic, I wasn't sure if we'd really be able to be out and about together.

Brian: Do you have front pack dreams?

Johanna: I'm sorry. Can you say that again?

Brian: Front pack dreams, wearing your baby in a front pack.

Johanna: Yes. When my daughter was born, I just wore her everywhere. I lived in the Adirondacks at the time, so I was just climbing mountains with her, getting to wear her everywhere. I'm looking forward to being able to do the same with my second.

Brian: Congratulations, Johanna. Thank you. I hope that goes great. Emily, I happened to know that you make an appearance in one episode in your Netflix series, when your mother showed you the first outfit that you ever wore, and you yourself recently had a daughter. You must've been enjoying listening to Johanna there.

Emily: I was because we do wear more than just our clothes when thinking about, when she's going to strap her child, her newborn onto her. Yes, in the show, my mom surprised me. I didn't know that she still had the outfit that I wore home from the hospital when I had just been born. In the show, I try that on my eight-day old daughter at the time, and that was really special that my mom held onto that, which had no idea about it and could put it on my daughter too.

Brian: I want to play our listeners another multi-generational or an example of another multi-generational one from your Netflix series. This is from Ross, the grandson of Sicilian immigrants. His grandmother, Anna, used to make ties with the scraps that she had left over from her job as a seamstress here in New York. Eventually Ross, his father, buys a house in the Rockaways, and shortly after Anna passes away, Hurricane Sandy hits. Two of Anna's ties are eventually recovered from the house and here's Ross on what the tie means to him.

Ross: When I put the tie on, I feel my grandmother hugging me. She would always kiss me on the side of my cheek, but do it 15 times in a row. It'd be like- [bilabial] and  

heart. Every time I wear the tie that's what it reminds me of.

Brian: That is so sweet, Emily. That episode is titled Lost and Found. You want to put that story into some context?

Emily: Sure. I think that story was initially in one of my books and then we were able to interpret it and bring it to life on screen. That one when you watch it there's an animated using felt animation to bring that story to life. Actually, it's a story I just absolutely love. You see Hurricane Sandy come through and just rip their house in Rockaway in half, and the tie is just dangling in the closet. One of Ross's parents' friends goes and grabs a bunch of the ties. It's just incredible story.

In that episode it's something like Ross's story where the house was lost, but they found the tie, and the memory of his grandmother lives on. Also there's a story of a coat that gets lost, and two women traipsing around New York City, trying to find the coat that had been given away. Also, there's a story of an airbrushed t-shirt, a teenager who was murdered and the mother makes an airbrushed t-shirt to memorialize him. Interpretations of lost and found as seen through clothing.

Brian: As seen through clothing. We have time for one more. Lexi in Rye, you're on WNYC. Hi Lexi.

Lexi: Hi. I love your show. Thank you for taking my call. I had a really funny moment when you asked the question about what we are attached to during pandemic that we don't want to let go. My initial reaction was, "Nothing. I'm ready to let go," and then I looked down at my feet and realized I'm wearing my bedroom slippers as I walk around town in Starbucks, shopping. I'm not ready to let go of comfortable footwear, in particular, bedroom slippers. Thank you for that moment of awareness.

Brian: Moment of awareness about taking the bedroom slippers on the road. You know what? That's going to be the last word as we have to leave it there for today with Emily Spivack, artist, author of the books, Worn Stories and Worn in New York: 68 Sartorial Memoirs of the City, and now creator of the Netflix docu-series, Worn Stories. Emily, you've triggered so many great thoughts and words and memories and future hopes from our listeners. Thanks so much for coming back.

Emily: Thanks for having me back, Brian.

Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC and more to come.

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