why are shared closets the root of friendship?
Friendships are such an important part of our daily lives, even if we decide to go through phases where we say we don’t need them. Getting along with someone who is so alike yet so different from yourself is such a fascinating idea, especially when these relationships to you unexpectedly – like in a class where you bond over the TA or on the first day of your summer program where you know no one else. The same thing people say about love, that finds you when you’re not looking for it, is applicable to friendships.
Sharing closets is such a common thing that it’s rarely ever acknowledged, but being able to see its meaning reveals that it is actually complex. At first thought, you just walk into your roommate’s room and ask to borrow the black puffer jacket or the red crewneck, but then if you take a step back and analyze this act. This simple act is only done once there’s an established level of trust between you and said person. It is the feeling of knowing that even if you can’t find the right shirt or jeans to go with your outfit, the person next door has exactly what you need to execute the outfit vision that came to you at 12:07 a.m while you were trying to go to sleep. Knowing that you may not see your pink lace top for a while because your friend borrowed it for the date with the guy she swears is not her type is something you’re fine with because you forgot to return their disco ball skirt for New Years Eve after a month of promising you would. Having the level of trust in someone in knowing that, eventually, your clothes will find their way back to you in some sort of way, is not easy to achieve, even over a long period of time.
Quality over quantity is such an obscure way of thinking when it comes to friendship, as you would think that quality is established through quantity of hangouts, but this isn’t always the case. I share my closet with friends I have known for less than a year – friends I wouldn’t have approached had it not been for the TA who gave us controversial feedback on our essays or being the only two political science majors within the mile radius. I’ve known them for such a limited amount of time but, if they asked, I would give any of them the periwinkle shirt I adore or the tulip hair clip I religiously include into my outfits. This isn’t some sort of one-sided glorified friendship, as I know they would lend me their beloved crocs if I was caught in the rain with the wrong shoes or let me borrow their thermal brush when I decide to blow my hair out at 1:30 am.