Winter coats, an important investment and carefully treasured, now unbelted and set aside. Sweaters and cardigans, often home-made, with patches of wool fluff where the arms rubbed against the body, peeled off. Then, more hesitantly, the front buttons of blouses, and neat side zips of dresses and skirts, all creased from the journey, possibly marked with sweat. Shoes and boots – off, placed together out of habit, their insoles gently curved to fit the owner’s feet, the heels scuffed from all the steps their owners had walked. Socks rolled off, perhaps new, perhaps darned. Stockings unclipped from girdles and garter belts. Legs bare. Feet cold on concrete.
Lucy Adlington – British fashion historian and author of The Dressmakers of Auschwitz (Harper).
In this passage, Ms. Adlington is describing how the new arrivals at Auschwitz concentration camp had to completely disrobe.
Please check back with ODFL tomorrow for my book review of The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive.
OverDressed for Life 
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