After You

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and mental health conditions.

Louisa Clark’s wardrobe is symbolic of identity. Before Will Traynor’s death, Louisa used to dress in colorful, mismatched, and flamboyant outfits. Her clothes were her unique way of expressing herself. In the wake of losing Will, however, Louisa stops dressing in this manner. She “bag[s] up everything that [has] ever made [her] distinctive, and stuff[s] those bags into the back of [her] wardrobe” (32). Hiding her clothes is thus Louisa’s way of disassociating from the person she was when she was with Will. She thinks if she stops presenting herself in the way she did when Will was alive, she can convince others and herself that she’s a different person. In the narrative present, she instead wears a “uniform of jeans and a generic tee” (32), outfits which are so neutral they void Louisa’s once unique identity.

Louisa’s true self reemerges when she starts dressing in her old clothes once more. Lily Miller is the first one to discover Lily’s old wardrobe and to interrogate her about her altered appearance. Louisa initially dismisses Lily’s questions because she isn’t ready to reconcile with the past and love herself again.