My grandmother owned a wedding dress hire store, which now seems both egregiously outdated, given the billion-dollar wedding industrial complex, and wonderfully prescient, given the popularity of GlamCorner and Rent the Runway.

I’d visit the store after school, charmed by my grandmother – pins arranged in a line between her lips, a measuring tape around her neck – altering off-the-rack dresses and suits so that the rented clothing could fit on the big day. It seemed, to my young eyes, hopelessly glamorous, not a means to an end.