Since we’re coming up on Friday the 13th – a day that, according to many Western traditions, means bad luck and trouble – let’s talk superstitions.
In high school, I bought a kitschy pair of black socks with multicolored flowers on them. I thought they were adorable back then, but even if they were horrendous it didn’t matter. I wore them to take my SATs, I wore them to visit colleges, I wore them to just about every job interview up until age 25 when I became a skirt devotee. Somehow, they became my lucky socks.
Do you have any superstitions related to clothes, jewelry, accessories, or ways of wearing certain items?
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I have a pair of earrings that I love. The first time I wore them to work, I got a lecture and a reprimand (not related to the earrings) which had never happened before and luckily has not happened since, and the second time, I got laid off! I won’t throw them out, but I am afraid they’re bad luck. Just discovered your blog, btw, and it’s my daily go-to. Looking forward to your book coming out on Nook. Thanks for all you’re doing!
I wear a piece of elephant jewelry most of the time – one of my signature pieces is a two-tone elephant ring or my elephant cuff. So, most days when I want to have a good day, I wear something elephant. Other lucky pieces I wear on stressful days are a portrait pendant of my mother, blue topaz jewelry (my birthstone), and the color red (my fave color). That way, if I know I am going to have a stressful day, then I wear some of my favorites for good luck. Oh, I wear Baby Grace by Philosophy scent when I have a difficult day as well. It seems to work.
In 1989, I worked as an apartment leasing agent. I had one outfit that became known in our office as my “rental suit” because every time I wore it I successfully closed a new deal. The suit didn’t protect me from being laid off in a down economy, but I wore it to a job interview and got the job that put me on the path to my current career. In case you’re wondering, it was a teal skirt suit from Dress Barn that I wore with a magenta blouse and an enameled brooch at the closed collar. I guess I was way ahead of my time with the “colorblocking” thing.
Red knickers (underpants) for good luck!
Red knickers make any day better! In fact, red is my go-to colour for any day that needs a pick-up.
When I was in college, my very stylish shopping buddy-my grandma-took me to look for some professional looking clothes for student teaching. That day she also took me into Victoria’s Secret and talked me into a scarlett red thong. In her words “they’ll be your sassy pants for interviews-to all eyes, you’ll be buttoned up and professional, but you’ll know better.” So, on every job interview, or pretty much any other time I have to be dressed to the nines and feel nervous in a professional setting, I don a pair of sassy pants to boost my confidence. I’ll be damned if it doesn’t work. Grandma was certainly on to something!
What a GREAT story, Jen! Your gran sounds like an amazing lady.
LOVE that!!! It’s fantastic!
I don’t have any luck or anything associated with most of my clothing, but jewelry, yes! When I need a good day, or luck, or anything like that I either wear the pendant my parents gave me for my wedding, or my Grandma’s old wedding ring. Or both!
I have a lucky 2$ bill. I normally leave it folded up in my “accessory” wallet (my wallet is tiny so I have one for cash, my debit card and my driver’s license than a second for all those store cards and misc) which unfortunately gets left at home rather often. The days that I carry both wallets are typically the days where really random fortunate events happen. For instance, the first time my now husband and I went out on a platonic date occurred when I had that wallet.
I have a lucky 5 Deutschmark bill. They quit making them in favor of coins way before they went to the Euro, and the Marks used to be in graduated sizes. The 5 was the smallest bill, and it’s just a little bigger than Monopoly money! It is always in my wallet, and I’ve carried it in my portfolio for every successful job interview. Just looking at it makes me feel happy.
This is going to sound nuts, but I have a necklace that I bought on Etsy – it’s a porcelain ear, and it’s called a “wishing ear.” The gal who makes them prints a number on the back that represents how many wishes the ear will grant, and I always wear it when I’m facing something daunting, and it makes a great conversation starter!
I still have about 10 wishes left…I hope it renews itself!
My lucky/favorite sweatshirt – a totally faded, black hoodie from the Gap. I used to be a high school teacher, and at some point around 2002, a student accidentally left the sweatshirt in my classroom. I left it on a table for about two weeks, waiting for the owner to claim it, but he/she never did. So I took it home and washed it, and it this poor garment became my new favorite thing. I wore it constantly during law school, especially on exam days to layer for potentially hot/cold testing rooms. Same thing at the bar exam. I still wear it to and from the gym in the winter, and around the house after work on cold evenings. I’ve tried to buy a couple of similar ones to replace it when it inevitably falls apart, but as of now, I’ve found nothing close
I wear a very simple beads-on-string bracelet that my best friend (the most un-crafty person EVER) made me for my birthday. I think it really does bring good things to me because when I catch sight of it the thought of her stressing as she tried to make it, makes me giggle and feel loved and so I’m naturally more open!
This Friday 13th it’s my birthday and two of my two best friends are getting married – they don’t believe in superstition are saving an absolute fortune on wedding related things as everyone else seems to!
I am afraid of flying but need to do it several times a year. I always wear the exact same outfit — down to socks and underwear — each way. If it is a short trip I wash the socks and underwear as soon as I arrive so it is clean for my departure.
I bought a new Brewers t-shirt and while wearing it to a game, crashed my week old brand new car (hadn’t even made a payment!) I tried to wear it to a few other games but they lost every time. Thus, the very nice t-shirt was donated. Hopefully the curse only applied to me and not to other people.
To end on a high note, I have a green and blue plaid flannel shirt dress that I wear for Packers games and they always win when I wear it. (And yes, I realize that the Packers are a much more winning team which might make a difference but I’m choosing to believe it’s all about the clothes
)
Go WI sports teams! Wish MN teams were as winning, but I hear there is a curse of Minnesota Futility.
Nope! I’m not superstitious. Not even a little bit.
I don’t have any clothing I consider “lucky”, but in high school I bought this cupcake printed tee from Wet Seal. I thought it was the cutest thing ever. I wound up having a huge row with my then-boyfriend, then had a massively bad night the next time I wore it. I finally just chucked it in the trash to rid myself of the cursed tee shirt.
I have a certain dress which seems to attract small disasters. I’ve spilled ice cream all down the front of it, torn out half the hem with a spike heel, and had to mend snapped straps multiple times. At this point, I just assume I’ll have to mend/clean/replace something on the dress after each wearing!
I have a pair of silver oval hoop earrings I bought in Italy that have come back to me three times when I lost them. The first time, I took them off in the winter and put them in my coat pocket because they were freezing my ears. I forgot, of course, and a couple years later I was getting ready to send that coat to the thrift shop when something made me check the pockets and I found them. The second time, I only lost one of them and I could not find it anywhere. When we were moving away from that house a long time later, I moved the refigerator to clean under it, and there it was! The third time, I lost both of them when I accidentally left them in a hotel room. I thought they were really gone that time, but I called the hotel and they had them and they sent them to me. I’d call them lucky!
I don’t have luck or anything really associated with it, but first thing, every day before I even grab for my underwear, I put on a simple gold and silver ring making sure that I can’t see the 14K engraving as it slides on my finger. It was one of the three items I got when my great-grandmother passed away almost ten years ago. That side of the family never had much money, and I hadn’t inherited any family jewelry yet so it meant a lot to me. One day I realized that I had been putting it on the same way every day. And then the day that I left the house without it, I felt like a piece of me was missing. So I wear it the same way every single day.
A couple years ago my mother was visiting her dad and saw a picture of my grandmother and he she’d never seen before. My grandma was wearing the ring! Turns out it was part of their wedding set. Even though they divorced when my mother was still a baby and my grandma passed away twenty years ago, I feel like the ring found it’s way to me for a reason.
When I got my first and only full-time teaching gig, I bought myself a silver bracelet that say on the top, “Go confidently” and then on the inside it says “in the direction of your dreams.” (This was before it got super cliche.) I do have my dream job but it’s the “go confidently” part that I often need a reminder of. I’ve worn it nearly every day for the past 9 years. I don’t feel complete without it. Is it lucky? Perhaps.
Sweet Sal, I’m LOVING all of these stories! Great thread!
I have a giant labradorite pendant, affectionately known as the Real Heart of the Ocean. Since I got it in 2008, I have got into the habit of taking it with me on trips. And oddly, I’ve had hardly any significant airplane connection/flight delay related mishaps in all that time. Now it’s become kind of a thing. Did I pack the RHOTO? If I did, nothing bad will happen to my trip or my house while I’m gone.
Man, that is GORGEOUS, Cynthia!
No superstitions here, but during university I liked to wear a red t-shirt or sweater when I had to give a talk. It made me feel bolder and more confident, and I also thought that people would notice me more.
Oh, now another thing comes to my mind – my rain-trousers. I had a pair of very wide-legged blue secondhand trousers from the 70s made of a thick wooly material. I did not shorten them, so they dragged on the ground. When I wore them, it usually started to rain and the dragging hem got soaked. Sometimes I had wet legs up to the knees. And it seemed to happen each and every time I. Might also be Murphy’s law. Or selective memory.
Luck isn’t always good – I have a cute pair of red knee socks with black skulls & crossbones from when I was a teenage goth. Every single time I wear them, it rains & my feet get completely soaked. I’ve tried tricking them by wearing them on sunny, cloudless days, but by the afternoon it will have started pouring & I will be drenched.
It might have something to do with living in Sydney, where all it does is rain & sometimes get very hot, but I’ve had to retire those socks now because I’m sick of spending the day with wet feet.
What a great topic! My most recent “lucky” thing to wear, was something I chose for strength and to be able to find my voice. It was a round citrine necklace – heavy, beautifully polished, and lay just where my breast bone is. I’d read that citrine (a lovely yellow stone) it used to be worn in the “breast plate of the high priest”, and that it gave clarity and strength to speaking – something I felt I needed during the mediation with my husband to develop a separation agreement. I was incredibly nervous about that meeting. I wanted to be clear, kind, strong, true in my speaking. The heaviness of that necklace helped me express myself with dignity and respect and truth. I wear it now on any occasion when telling the truth seems like it will be hard. Okay…not exactly lucky or superstitious…sorry I may be off topic…but it did HELP me in a positive way, so maybe, now a lucky piece of jewellery.
)
(By the way, we did arrive at an agreement, that day – which when it was all over – had my husband and I hugging and crying together. My lawyer was so struck by things that I said, that she told me at a much later date, that she quotes me now to new clients. The power of the right accessory!!!
I had a very cute pair of little skull & crossbones earrings, back from that period in the 00′s when everyone was big into pirate accessories. I failed my driving test in them, took an epic fall in a parking lot in them, experienced a dead battery in them, and finally got into a fairly nasty car crash while wearing them. I guess they gave me bad driving-related luck specifically? I decided to not wear them anymore after that ER doctor had to fish chunks of safety glass out of my forehead, but I did make those into earrings, so my number of pieces of jewelry in circulation was unchanged. Silver lining?
What a cool way to use the glass from your crash!
I’ve had several pieces of clothing that something disastrous happened every time I wore them- they had to go! Now I try to wear new clothes on unimportant days so the first wearing doesn’t get bad mojo and curse the garment for all time!
I have a silver ring I never take off. It’s a simple, thin band with designs hand carved in it. I bought it at an art show with my sister and the artist was really cool. I feel like it’s lucky so I always wear it!
Not superstitious here either, but love your blog and this is an interesting topic. Great responses!
I have lucky pink pearl earrings that I always wear to give big presentations, go to interviews, etc. My Dad bought them for me like 10 years ago.
A graphic tee from woot has become my lucky tee since I wore it to my PSAT last year. It’s come with me to all major tests since and I’ve been pleased with each result! Though I know that’s more due to my work ethic and studying, it’s comforting to wear it.