Nearly two decades after purchasing a $14.99 Rocker Grrl Ringer Tee from the popular mail order catalog, Delia*s, 34-year-old Michelle Myers reluctantly donated it to her local Salvation Army in downtown Philadelphia.
Sources close to Michelle confirm that parting ways with the shirt was a long and arduous road for the former teenager.
Michelle’s former roommate Becky Green remembers the shirt vividly: “We lived together from 2005 to 2008, and I was always trying to convince her to throw it out because it made her look like she was 14. Wait, are you saying she still had it, like, recently? She told me she gave it to her niece!”
Michelle’s ex-boyfriend also remembers the shirt less than fondly. “It got pretty gnarly. And not it that worn, vintage way. She wore it to work in the garden and when she cleaned out the cat’s litter box. I told her not to donate it. It belongs in the trash.”
He adds, “Wait, she still had it?! She told me she threw it out!”
While donating her beloved Delia*s shirt took decades, Michelle did make a few attempts to sell it to several vintage stores over the years. One employee of Dirty Thredz recalls, “She brought the shirt in every other month for a while. Every time we’d turn it away. Not just because it was from Delia*s, although like, c’mon. Finally I offered her $2 for it just to end it.”
Delia*s launched in 1993 and became an iconic part of girlhood for most teen girls growing up in the 90’s. The catalog was loaded with wacky typeface, fresh-faced models, and clothing that helped define a decade of well-behaved suburban fashion. The majority of buyers ditched the clothing by 2002, or their arrival at college.
Not all of Michelle’s friends had bad things to say about her Delia*s shirt though. “I remember she wore it a party at Danny’s house in 8th grade where he ended up frenching Michelle,” laments Sarah. “I was so jealous of that shirt.”
At the time of publication, Michelle’s Delia*s shirt was still in a discount bin at the Broad Street Salvation Army, where its 99-cent price tag was now half off. Michelle, who visits the shirt frequently, says, “This shirt is going to make some girl really, really happy one day. And that girl might just be me.”
