Episode #4: Getting Dressed When the World Falls Apart: Intention, Dignity & Everyday Resistance

Welcome to Reclaiming the Threads, a space where fabric meets memory, and where what we wear becomes a kind of prayer. From House of Tikkun in a small corner of campus at Harvard University, I’m your host, Ashley, and today’s episode is an offering to all of you for those days when it just feels like too much.

I’m pretty sure You know the ones I mean. Especially these days, they seem more frequent than ever.

The days when the news is unbearable. When the world seems to be unraveling. When Gaza is burning amidst continual air strikes, when earthquakes take whole villages, when political systems feel sunken and hollow, and well, the atmosphere of our lives feels... well, seemingly thin.

On days like those, the very idea of getting dressed can feel absolutely absurd. Frivolous. Or sometimes even impossible.

But here’s where it brings us to what I want to talk about in today’s episode: the valuable and timeless ideas around
Getting dressed as a spiritual practice.
Getting dressed as resistance.
And Getting dressed as a way to remember who you are.

Even in sorrow. Especially in sorrow.

Segment 1: The Weight of Now

Let’s start here: the world is heavy right now. And not just geopolitically.

There’s a kind of psychic weight many of us are carrying—collective human grief, climate anxiety, ever-growing economic instability, and the low hum of fear that something big, really big, could break at any moment.

And you and I both know if we look honestly within… the body knows. It’s like a cosmic antenna to events and emotions across the globe somehow.

It curls in. It hunches. It often tries to disappear. Sometimes, it wants to wear pajamas all day. Or that same tattered but cozy oversized hoodie you borrowed from your high-school boyfriend and never gave back, for three weeks straight. And honestly? Sometimes that's just what we need. Comfort is not the enemy.

But other times—
what we need is to remember that we are still sovereign,
still capable of choice,
still radiant by recognizing our own divinity in being human.

And sometimes, that remembering begins with… simply how we go about getting dressed.

Segment 2: Historical Echoes of Dressing with Dignity

Let’s move back through time.

In World War II, women in London would paint stocking seams down the backs of their bare legs with eyeliner, because nylons were rationed. They did it not to be vain—but to feel more like themselves walking amongst the rubble and under the threat of impending catastrophe and dropping bombs.

In Japanese internment camps in the U.S., interned women organized beauty contests and wore pressed blouses hand-sewn from secretly collected curtain scraps. These were not acts of denial in any way. They were acts of a quiet defiance. A resistance to be what their captors intended. A claim of their own agency and power, when none was technically permitted or allowed.

In South Africa during apartheid, one’s Sunday best was worn as an armor—to church, to protest marches, to funerals—it was a sign of spiritual sovereignty and communal respect regardless of denigrating external mandates.

And today, even now—
in the shattered and war torn areas of occupied Palestine, embroidered garments known as thobes are stitched with village-specific patterns using whatever scraps they can muster together. A woman might also proudly wear an embroidered dress her grandmother wore in 1948,that represented her home village, when she was displaced herself. Those garments are not just clothing—their land acknowledgment. their soveirgn statements of a proud identity. They are a most valuable archive of human movement and social formations and the power we have in the personal agency of dressing. Their history, even if removed from texts, is woven into the literal threads of their lives, a history they wear with pride and dignity even in the face of genocide.

In all these cases, clothing became a form of resistance. A container for memory. A tool for survival.

If and when we are faced with any difficulties in life, We can also do the same.

Segment 3: The Psychology of Getting Dressed

Now, let’s talk science for a moment.

There’s was a team at a University who conducted peer-reviewed and participant based experiments that coined the term “enclothed cognition”—based on the psychological effect of clothing on behavior. What they discovered was that When you wear something you associate with confidence, care, or power, your brain responds in like. and then You embody those feelings and emotions and psychological states more fully. In this situation it the how a doctors lab coat significantly impacted the scores on normal arythmatic and cognitive test results. the particpants who were given the lab coats to wear, scored significantly higher than those who were not given the doctors coat to wear. this was a scientific study, so measures were taken to ensure fair and accurate results ie they all entered with same IQ and equal degrees of knowledge.

It’s why fancy dresses can shift posture.

Why athletic clothing can make us feel more “sporty”

why you panic if your favorite sexy dress can’t be found for date night
Why certain outfits make us feel more alert, more beautiful, more attuned, more powerful.
This is Why wearing something was intention can change how we move through the world.

Here’s something I often suggest to friends feeling worn down:

Make a “resilience outfit.”
Something you could put on in an emergency—or on an ordinary bad day—that makes you feel prepared, rooted, like a warrior or an ancestor or a healer.

Mine? It’s A longline indigo coat I got second-hand in paris, a linen scarf from dubai that ive mended the corner several times, and black leather slip-on Blundstone chelsea boots that have walked me through the most extreme landscapes with style and comfort; visited Ethiopian tribes, hiked through Egyptian deserts, climbed ruins in Iraq and most impressive, survived hard winters in Boston. and the coat? I’ve cried in that coat. I’ve laughed in that coat. I’ve been deeply embraced in love in that coat, I’ve traveled across many continents in that coat, I’ve marched rallies in that coat. I entered my first course at Harvard grad school in that coast. It carries me in a way that feels protected and empowered. I know that if I could do those other things in those garments, they can hold me through again in a way where i move confidently in the memory of what we have done before.

So let me ask you gently:
What outfit might carry you?

Segment 4: Practical Preparation — Just in Case

Let’s go there for a moment.
Because the truth is, many of us are sensing something shifting.
The fabric of normalcy feels… thin. Maybe even unreliable.

So here are some practical ways to integrate clothing into your resilience toolkit:

1. Choose garments that last.

Natural fibers like wool, linen, cotton canvas and denim wear well, regulate temperature, and are easier to repair. If systems break down—these matter.

2. Keep weather-conscious layers on hand.

Especially if you live in a climate with extreme heat or cold. Think ponchos, cloaks, waterproof boots. Think what would our ancestors have worn to survive.

3. Stock up on socks and underlayers.

In many conflict zones, these are the first things people run out of. learn how to handwash with rationed water and makeshift soap (i learned this from summers in Haiti and trips to sub-saharan africa and its been a handy skill even in normal conditions)

4. Learn visible mending.

Mending is both survival and beauty. It’s saying: I am worth saving. My clothes are worth saving. I have a story to tell.

5. Dress symbolically.

Wear your cause. Embroider your values. Patch your beliefs into your jacket. Not for anyone else, but for you. For your sanity. For your soul. To be reminders held close.

Segment 5: Clothing as Spellwork

What if getting dressed could be a kind of spell?

Each item you wear—chosen with care—is a word in a sentence your body is speaking. A message to the universe. A reminder in the imprint of time to your future self.

you create the code from what feels right in your heart, because language fails, but frequency and emotion always tell a true story.

Maybe Red for strength.
Blue for calm.
Green for growth.
Gold for joy.
Black for stating boundary.
White for peace.

Pink for celebration.

You don’t need to overthink it.
You just need to choose. first instinct is usually the truth before we over analyze..
Let your hands and your heart guide you.

And if you’re in grief?
Dress like it.
Wrap your sorrow in softness.
Wear mourning with grace and pride.
Let your clothes be your chapel. be the wreaths of flowers decorating the temple that is you. adorn the vessel that shares those valuable emotions with the world.

Segment 6: Listener Voices

I want to share a few listener reflections from our community.

Rasha, a Palestinian-American artist, wrote:

“After my cousin was killed in Gaza, I started wearing a keffiyeh every day. Not always around my neck—but sometimes as a belt, a headband, draped over my handbag, even sewn under the hem of my dress. It makes me feel tethered to my cousin’s memory and my home. And makes my pain feel seen.”

And Jared, a trans man in Texas, shared:

“When the anti-trans laws started rolling in, I started dressing more extra. More eyeliner. More glitter. More fabulous. Not for them, no way—but I do it for me. I see it as a way to say: you can’t make me disappear.”

To both of these listeners and beautiful souls: a deep thank you You remind us that the body is not just a battlefield—it’s also a sacred space, a sanctuary that honors the you that cannot be erased.

Final Segment: Ritual, Not Routine

so Let me close with this:

What if we approached getting dressed not as a routine task, but as a valuable ritual?
A moment to check in with yourself.
A daily chance to say and proclaim to the world:

I’m here. I matter. and I choose how I show up.

Even if the world is falling apart—
even if it all comes undone—
you can still put on a scarf, handstitched with loving care by your grandmother
You can still choose the un-matching green sweater because you want to honor and celebrate the trees.
You can still wrap yourself in your own prayer, whatever that may be. it’s yours. you don’t have to always speak through language. language often falls short, so express what you have to say with your body and your intentional choices that represent you and what you are showing up to be.

What you wear doesn’t need to be perfect, or fashion forward or socially stylish. that is far from the idea!
All that it needs to be is you and yours.

[Soft outro music begins — hopeful, rhythmic, rising slightly like a gentle dawn]

Thank you sweet friends for joining me in this tough conversation today. If this episode touched something in you or sparked an idea, I be honored to invite you to share it. Send us a note on our website www.houseoftikkun.com and/or Tag us @HouseofTikkun. Or send this episode to someone who might be quietly grieving, quietly resisting, or quietly remembering how to dress like they matter. They do matter. You matter. and I love you and your friend. I’m so grateful for your time and openness to be here with me.

During This coming week, I have a challenge for you:
Pick one day to dress like your future self is thriving and survived all of this mess-
Dress like someone who knew how to keep the fire when the lights of the city went out.
Dress like someone who walked through the burning coal and still found color amongst the ashes.

Do this Because you are that person.
Because you will survive.

and Until next time, regardless of rain or shine-
Be well sweet friends,
Be brave.
And keep reclaiming the threads.