How To Tell Stories Through The Clothing We Wear

Emily Spivack is an avid eBay browser, but deals on Target collabs and discount designer goods aren't exactly her bag. Instead, the New York dweller hunts down listings that tell stories, documenting the relationship between object and memory, from a silly story to a dog chewing a heel to a moving memory of a man's relationship with his wife's coat. For her upcoming exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Spivack shares some of her favorite found stories, which she continues to collect on her blog Sentimental Value. (She also works on another long-form memory project called Worn Stories, which asks people to tell a story using a particular garment.)

For Sentimental Value, Spivack has shared five stories that are wonderfully resonant, both highlighting the anonymous nature of eBay and the way we give history to clothing in order to make it more valuable. Take a look at each of these oddly intimate eBay stories, and the garments that have inspired them.