My closet isn’t really a closet; it was our bonus room.  But is has been transformed into an enviable dressing room / clothes storage room and I now think of it as my own little private retreat. It is wide and long and is outfitted with custom racks, closet rods, and shoe holders that make it almost too narrow for anyone to slink through. But that doesn’t bother me at all: it’s cozy.  

Three sides house original, built-in shelves and drawers that are now over-flowing with my handbags, jewelry, scarves, etc.  I even have a few stacks of favorite books and collected memorabilia from plays, birthday parties, and family vacations neatly stacked in rows that seem to dare rearranging. Yes, this is my little corner of OCD paradise complete with a wingback chair and a small TV. Occasionally, I work in my closet; if I’m alone, I eat my lunch in my closet.  Today I had these leftover Bacon and Ranch Sliders and watched a documentary on Netflix. And then I finished a piece I was working on for social media.

Using closets as a private study or intimate room is nothing new.  In fact, that’s the way they started. The first people to use a closet were Roman soldiers; these “closets” stored and transported weapons and armor. They were called “armoriums” which are known today as “armoires.” In France during the 16th century, the armoire became fashionable among the upper class as a way to store weapons, tools, and clothing. Closets as we know them today, a wall cavity inside a larger room, did not emerge until around 1840 and is credited to Americans.

The closet has also long been a metaphor related to sexual identity and suggested that certain “skeletons” were “in the closet,” however, the coming out analogy was not used by gay people until the 1960s. A gay man’s coming out originally referred to his being formally presented to gay society and the enormous drag balls that followed were patterned on the debutante and masquerade balls of the prewar era. “Coming out” at that time referred to coming out of hiding and joining into a society of peers.

The skeleton trope is believed to have originated in the UK when parliament passed a bill in 1832 allowing doctors to dissect dead bodies for medical research. Before this, they could only use the corpses of executed criminals, kept out of sight (as in a closet.)  It’s unclear as to when these two morphed and “coming out of the closet” and “skeletons in the closet” became related.

The walk-in or luxury closets we think of today didn’t really appear until the 1980s when it became a standard feature for most medium and large houses; during this time, custom closet companies began to emerge.

We became obsessed with huge, extravagant closets of celebrities like Mariah Carey whose 12,000 square foot closet was featured in an episode of Cribs. And who can forget Carrie’s magnificent closet from the Sex and the City movie?

My closet is far from either of those, but it is kind of my refuge.  It is welcoming to me, comfortable, and multi-functional.  My closet is private and intimate and yet it is bold because houses all the consumerism that sometimes leads me. It’s a place for solitary working, eating, and catching up on correspondence.  And I’ll admit it’s also a place to hide from life now and then.