The Stories We Wear: How a Wardrobe Became My Writing Desk

By Amal Hdhili

I didn’t set out to write a book. I set out to remember who I was before life got too loud.

There was a time I wrote often—letters I never sent, poems I didn’t show, journal entries I buried in drawers. But somewhere between growing up and showing up—at work, in life, in roles I didn’t always choose—writing became a luxury I could no longer afford. My words, once so eager to meet me on paper, slowly grew quiet under the weight of deadlines, dishes, duties.

It was only years later, when the world outside fell asleep and I found myself alone with the hum of my thoughts, that something called me back. Not a blank page. Not a book idea. Just… a wardrobe.

I had opened its doors looking for a coat. What I found instead were fragments of myself. A red dress I hadn’t worn in years, hanging like a secret I wasn’t ready to share. A pair of shoes that once danced through a night I tried hard to forget. A sweater still scented with the perfume I wore when I first moved to a new country. And a scarf—tangled, faded, soft at the edges—the one I wrapped around my mother’s shoulders when I last visited.

Each item spoke, not with words, but with weight. A quiet memory pressed into fabric. A feeling sewn into seams. And for the first time in a long time, I listened. I didn’t try to organize or donate or declutter. I sat on the floor and wrote. Not about what I wore, but who I was when I wore it.

My wardrobe became my writing desk.

It didn’t offer structure or silence or ergonomic comfort. It offered something more intimate: truth. In those late hours, I wrote stories that began not with plot, but with presence. A heel, abandoned in a box, whispered about a woman who once dared to love someone she shouldn’t have. A moth-eaten coat remembered a man who left in the rain and never came back. A dress, unworn and still with tags, held the weight of all the things a woman planned to become—but never had the chance to.

And as I wrote, I noticed something else: the clothes didn’t just hold stories of characters. They held mine too.

The dress I wore to my first interview, when I was shaking but smiled anyway. The boots I bought with my first paycheck—too expensive, but I felt like I earned them. The long cardigan I always reach for when I don’t know what I’m feeling. These weren’t just garments. They were anchors. They reminded me I’ve been many women, in many moments. And that each version of me deserved to be remembered, not just folded away.

There’s a strange kind of healing in writing through objects. They don’t interrupt. They don’t judge. They don’t ask you to make sense. They simply exist, carrying time and texture and truth. And in writing their imagined stories, I began to piece together my own.

I didn’t write a book to be an author. I wrote to breathe. To pause. To stop scrolling through other people’s lives and sit with mine. And somewhere between a forgotten glove and a silent scarf, I found my voice again.

People often ask where inspiration comes from. For me, it came from a place I never thought to look—between hangers and heartbeats. It didn’t arrive with lightning. It arrived with stillness. And it taught me that sometimes, the stories we’re meant to tell aren’t hiding in exotic places or dramatic experiences. Sometimes, they’re hanging quietly in our own closets, waiting for us to remember.

Today, I still write most often at night, when the house is quiet and the day no longer expects anything from me. I still return to that wardrobe—not always to write, but to remember. To touch the threads of my life and remind myself that I’ve lived. That I’m still living.

And that maybe, the things we wear aren’t just things. Maybe they are our softest storytellers.

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WHISPERS FROM THE WARDROBE

Women’s Tales Woven in Fabric

In the quiet corners of every woman’s closet lies a universe of untold tales, where each item, accessory, and memento whispers secrets of her life’s journey.
“Whispers from the Wardrobe ” invites you to step into this intimate kingdom, where the threads of memory merge with the fabric of identity, knitting a collage of stories that go beyond time and space.
Every item within a woman’s closet holds a fragment of her narrative—a cherished memory, a forgotten dream, a hidden desire. From the worn-out sneakers that witnessed her first steps towards independence to the glowing dress that symbolizes her aspirations, each piece serves as a silent witness to the complexities of her existence.

In this book, we embark on a captivating journey through the closets of countless women, each chapter revealing a new story shaped by the artifacts within. Here, you’ll encounter the entrepreneur whose power suit masks her vulnerability, the artist whose paint-stained smock uncovers her deepest passions, and the grandmother whose over-worn sweater is a reflection to a lifetime of love and sacrifice.

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Amal Hdhili is a Tunisian author, storyteller, and lifelong lover of words. Born and raised in the small town of Jendouba, Tunisia, and now based in Turkey, she writes with a deep sensitivity to the hidden layers of everyday life. Her work gives voice to the silent objects around us—mirrors, dresses, forgotten scarves—and captures the memories they hold.

Her debut book, Whispers from the Wardrobe, is a heartfelt collection of stories narrated by the items in a woman’s closet—each piece whispering secrets, emotions, and echoes of the lives they’ve touched. Blending nostalgia, empathy, and imagination, Amal invites readers to slow down and listen to the world around them more deeply.

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing