The other day, Nina, owner of the dry cleaner I frequent, went to retrieve my shirts and she stood confounded, holding up a very colorful blouse, and asked if it was mine. For sixteen years, I have had my wardrobe of shirts laundered faithfully at her store. Nina can write the life stories of her customers from our drop-off bundles. She knows if you are going into the office and what you’ve eaten for dinner. She also knows what clothes bring good luck and how much luck you may be needing. My shirts are predictable, either black or white, and on a very rare occasion, a subtle color, checkered or stripe. Most of them come from the designer Eskandar, known for understated style in luxurious fabrics. Like the shirts, I play the long game: an investment that transcends time, sustainable and value focused.

For the most part, you can say, I am a ​“what you see is what you get” kind of a person. The shirt she held up was an exception from a past life moment about eleven years ago, worn only once to a party and then sent to the small fashion archive in the back of my closet. I plucked it a week earlier, and I wore it to a daytime event that called for festive attire. Looking at Nina, I nodded ​“yes,” I was the wearer. She was delighted, and I took that as a sign to keep the shirt in the front of my closet. Sometimes an exception can be a sign of things to come. Stay tuned.