Even the clothes we wear every day are scrupulously patterned after Victorian antiques and nineteenth-century fashion plates. Clothes are incredibly intimate. They influence how we move, and at the same time record tiny details about us that seem too mundane to write down — things like whether the items in our pockets are light or heavy, or what we do with our hands when we don't have pockets at all. I sew all my own clothes by hand, and Gabriel's are made for him by a seamstress in Seattle.
I'm an author; as with any true writer it's not just my profession but how I experience the world. I keep a diary every day, using an antique mother-of-pearl fountain pen I bought with part of my first book advance. I draft a lot of my manuscripts the same way: I enjoy this tangible connection to my words. (There have been some really interesting studies done showing the human brain processes information more thoroughly when it's written by hand as opposed to typed.) When I take notes from antique books and magazines I use a pencil to avoid dribbling ink on irreplaceable antique volumes.

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