This is Side Door, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX.

I'm Lizzie Peabody.

When Julie Towson was 16 years old, she found it. The perfect skirt.

Okay, I had been looking for this checkered skirt for months.

Like I actually ordered one previous to that and it wasn't cute enough for me so I kept looking.

Like I searched so hard for this checkered board skirt.

The skirt was high-waisted, faux leather.

Zipper in the back, it's black and white, it's the checkered board skirt.

There is no other way to say it.

It's the one.

Yeah.

Jilly's in college now, but when the skirt came into her life,

she was in high school at a public magnet school

for the arts in Washington, D.C.

And clothes were a big part of how she expressed herself at school.

I was really, really shy, and so when you're quiet like that,

it makes you feel kind of unnoticed and so I feel like clothes gave me that

outlet to like express how I was feeling and say what I want to say.

And Jillie how I was feeling and say what I want to say.

And Jillie had plans for her skirt.

She paired it with a super soft fluffy white sweater.

And then I also had these knee-high boots that my mom had gotten me for Christmas.

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