Gerda Saunders is a retired educator and was formerly Associate Director of the Gender Studies program at the University of Utah. In 2010, she was diagnosed with cerebral microvascular disease, a precursor of dementia. She recently published a memoir of her experience entitled Memory’s Last Breath: Field Notes on My Dementia.
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“Sometimes when I feel a little bit more adult, I wear black and white and so on, but I do love bright colors,” says Saunders. “My clothes have to talk to each other in some interesting way. And that’s really how I feel about it. So just because something is a color, if I only can wear it with black pants or so, it would not be that interesting to me.” Photo: @clancycoop
“With the business of working years, and also a lack of finances through most part of my life, I’ve always just improvised with what I have,” says Saunders. “I actually still do that, but because I’m retired, I’ve had more time to look out for something special. And sometimes I have one part of an outfit that I love, and then suddenly, I’ll walk in a DI, or any other thrift shop, and I see the perfect thing to go with it. And sometimes, it’s years in the making. So my clothes are not new. I’ve got a few new things, but mostly, they’re like friends that have come a long way with me.” Photo: @clancycoop
Saunders has developed a technique for continuing to dress in her signature style, despite her memory loss. “What I did was more to pick my favorite combination of certain items and keep them together as an outfit, and really not mix and match them too much with other things,” she says. “And then I also started writing notecards to remember … And then that became not enough, so I started taking photos of everything.” Here she is pictured with her alter ego, Doña Quixote. Photo: @clancycoop
“[My clothes have become] more and more organized in a way, but I think that’s also psychological, because as my world gets more and more out of order, I cling to this one thing that I can still order,” says Saunders. “I think about it often, like when I’m no longer capable of dressing myself and so on—and I’ve spoken to my friends and family about it—and I’ve said to them, ‘I really don’t require of you to try to keep up with my odd way of dressing. Just put me in something, or do your interpretation of what you think I would have liked. Don’t try to keep these clothes forever and keep putting them on me.’ Because I think part of the joy of clothes for me is that you stand in front of them, you pick them out, you touch them, you put them together; and that putting together is a very pleasing and creative thing to do. So I know there will be a time when somebody will pop me into a jogging suit or something, but I said to them, ‘Just make sure it’s got lots of bling on it.'” Photo: @clancycoop
Gerda and her husband, Peter Saunders, dance the salsa as they have done since the 1980s. Photo: @clancycoop
“My PhD was in creative writing, although I did a lot of literary theory and literature as well,” says Saunders. “I wrote a book of short stories, by now 15–20 years ago, and then I just recently published my memoir on having dementia. So I was able to retain enough writing skills to be able to complete the memoir, but by the skin of my teeth and with lots and lots of help.” Photo: @clancycoop
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![“[My clothes have become] more and more organized in a way, but I think that's also psychological, because as my world gets more and more out of order, I cling to this one thing that I can still order,” says Saunders. “I think about it often, like when I'm no longer capable of dressing myself and so on—and I've spoken to my friends and family about it—and I've said to them, 'I really don't require of you to try to keep up with my odd way of dressing. Just put me in something, or do your interpretation of what you think I would have liked. Don't try to keep these clothes forever and keep putting them on me.' Because I think part of the joy of clothes for me is that you stand in front of them, you pick them out, you touch them, you put them together; and that putting together is a very pleasing and creative thing to do. So I know there will be a time when somebody will pop me into a jogging suit or something, but I said to them, 'Just make sure it's got lots of bling on it.'" Photo: @clancycoop](https://www.slugmag.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/@clancycoop_Slug_Style_4.jpg)
