Love, Loss, and What I Wore is a play written by Nora and Delia Ephron based on the 1995 book of the same name by Ilene Beckerman.

[1] She wrote five best-selling books[1] and the 2002 play Imaginary Friends, which fictionalized the antagonistic relationship between Lillian Hellman and Mary McCarthy.

[4] She identified with the stories in Love, Loss, and What I Wore because the book "is not about fashion; it is about what clothes really are to us, those moments when we are constantly trying to find our identity through them.

[6] She weaves her life story among the other tales, describing her three marriages, "motherhood and the death of a child, each turning point marked by a particular item of clothing.

"[7] The New York Times presented three stories that it felt were particularly emotional: the first about a woman who removed miniskirts from her college wardrobe after being raped, but continued wearing her favorite boots; another about wedding attire anxieties; and the third about the choice of adorning a newly reconstructed breast with a tattoo.

"[8] Other stories include recollections about the dress purchased for the date with a guy who subsequently married someone else; the foibles of spandex bras that result in a look known as the monoboob; issues involving toe cleavage; the Juicy Couture tracksuit that is a prominent staple of California wardrobes; wardrobe choice on the wrong day of the month; and the story about an incarcerated lover and the strategic hole in a certain pair of pants.

[7] Love, Loss, and What I Wore was first presented on August 2, 2008 at the Bridgehampton Community House as a benefit for the renovation of the John Drew Theatre/Guild Hall in East Hampton, New York.

[11][12] The production, directed by Karen Lynn Carpenter, starred Linda Lavin, Karyn Quackenbush, Leslie Kritzer, Kathy Najimy, and Sara Chase.

Then Daryl Roth produced the play in a Monday night series of benefit performances for 'Dress for Success', a charity organization that serves low-income women by enabling them to afford work clothing and providing job support,[5] again under the direction of Karen Lynn Carpenter.

[17][18][19] Other participants in the original readings included Tyne Daly (who created the narrator character, Gingy, for the New York Production),[8] Rosie O'Donnell, Samantha Bee, Rondi Reed, America Ferrera, Debi Mazar, Marlo Thomas, Blythe Danner, Christine Lahti, Parker Posey, Julie White, Kelly Bishop, Sarah Jones, Veanne Cox and Kristen Wiig.

"[4] Other well-known actresses who have performed in the Off-Broadway production include the following: Carol Kane, Debra Monk, Janeane Garofalo, Fran Drescher, Melissa Joan Hart, Brooke Shields, Victoria Clark, Alison Fraser, Tovah Feldshuh, Loretta Swit, Mary Testa, Nikki Blonsky, Donna McKechnie, B. Smith and Marla Maples.

The final cast was Sierra Boggess, Joyce Van Patten, Karyn Quackenbush, Erica Watson and Ally Walker.

[25] Carpenter directed a US national tour that began in Chicago in September 2011 with an engagement at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place.

[26] The Chicago cast included Nora Dunn, Felicia Fields, Roni Geva, Katie O'Brien and Barbara Robertson as Gingy.

[30] The post-Chicago national tour performances were set to be headlined by the December 7–30 Off-Broadway cast that included Daisy Eagan, Sonia Manzano and Loretta Swit.

Actresses there included Daly, Kane, DeVito, Perlman, Nancy Travis,[34] Bonnie Franklin, Meredith Baxter, Florence Henderson, Marissa Jaret Winokur,[35] María Conchita Alonso, Christine Lahti,[36] Jenny O'Hara, Lauren Hutton,[37] Harriet Harris, Teri Garr, Mimi Rogers and Sally Struthers.

[7] By the end of 2010, the play had been staged in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and Buenos Aires, and numerous other productions around the world have run since then.

[8] In Variety, Marilyn Stasio called it "a bittersweet meditation on the joys and tribulations of women's lives, reflected through the prism of their clothes.

"[6] In Bloomberg News, the critics commented that the playwrights were "literary alchemists expert at mixing the sentimental and the satirical and turning out something poignant" and noted that the clothing and accessories dominated the memories while the "men are extras.

[43] Jay Reiner of The Hollywood Reporter noted that from the work "a tapestry of the collective female psyche emerges that is tender and insightful without being sentimental.

[8][9] While Reiner said, "There's an amusing 'I hate my purse' segment,"[9] Isherwood noted that the "smartest and shapeliest piece of writing in the show is that acerbic essay by Nora Ephron about her troublesome relationship with purses... Entrusted to Ms. O'Donnell, who does it proud, the essay is a defiant denunciation of the tyranny of the pocketbook, a 'j'accuse' for the era of the 'it' bag.

"[8] The Los Angeles Times notes the light nature of the subject matter: "... isn't out to reclaim female sexuality from centuries of oppression; it wittily celebrates wardrobe malfunctions..."[7] According to Reiner, the show points out that "... if there is one thing the females of the species have in common, it's a deep and abiding love/hate relationship with their wardrobe... this wonderfully witty show illustrates, what one wears to the party is sometimes more memorable than the party itself."

"[43] Certain monologues on subjects such as weight, status bags and high heels did not achieve their full potential according to The Los Angeles Times reviewer.