FASHION AND BEAUTY

When You Have To Begin Again, Clothing Can Help You Heal

Patricia shares a room that’s just big enough for a twin-sized bunk bed; a small wardrobe; and a long, narrow vanity. She and her roommate need to be mercilessly tidy if they want to stay sane in the tiny space — beds are made as soon as the women get up, and clothes are folded as soon as they come off. They’ve developed ingenious ways to store their shoes (under the bed), jewelry (in cookie tins inside the drawers), and winter clothes (inside their suitcases). While her roommate isn't that into fashion, Patricia keeps her side of the small closet organized, with the care and eye of a clotheshorse. The only collection that feels like it might get a red mark from Marie Kondo are Patricia’s beauty products; she has enough creams, sprays, and powders to open up a small salon.

It’s a living arrangement familiar to the many of us who shared dorm rooms in college, but Patricia is not at school. She is a 26-year-old woman who has escaped from West Africa to Detroit, where she lives at Freedom House, a group home that is shepherding her asylum application. For the last year, she has existed in a legal limbo: Without a work permit, Patricia cannot earn money or apply for government assistance; without money, she cannot get her own place. Without her own place, she must abide by Freedom House’s necessarily strict rules, including a 9 p.m. curfew, a “no social media” policy, and meals that have largely been donated, which means it’s chicken and rice most nights of the week.