Dogeared

Kelly Link's "The Faery Handbag," in Magic for Beginners:

If clothes are good, or even if they're bad in an interesting way, The Garment District is where they go when they die. You can tell that they're dead, because of the way they smell. When you buy them, and wash them, and start wearing them again, and they start to smell like you, they reincarnate.

...

The funeral parlor had made her up with blue eyeshadow, and blue eyeliner. She looked like she was going to be a news anchor on Fox television, instead of dead. It was creepy and made me even sadder than I already was.

...

I'll explain why, but you have to be patient. It's hard work telling everything in the right order.