For subscribers
Sumiko at 62: Letting go of work clothes as retirement nears is harder than I thought
The struggle is due to the brain’s memory, emotion and thinking centres working together to link memories with feelings and identity.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Clothes are tightly tied to identity, and the writer says her work clothes represent a version of herself that she likes.
ST ILLUSTRATION: MANNY FRANCISCO
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
In December 2025, I booked a holiday to Shanghai and had to dig out my winter wear. While I was at it, I decided to confront the boxes of clothes I had left untouched for years and cull what I no longer needed.
Those containers date back to 2019, when I moved out of my house for five months while it was being renovated. We returned in November and, two months later, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Working from home on and off for the next few years, I didn’t need most of my office clothes. They stayed packed in the boxes, stored deep in my wardrobe.
