The following passage is from Kate Chopin's 1899 novel The Awakening: Robert's going had some way taken the brightness, the color, the meaning out of
everything. The conditions of her life were in no way changed, but her whole
existence was dulled, like a faded garment which seems to be no longer worth
wearing. She sought him everywhere-in others whom she induced to talk about
him. She went up in the mornings to Madame Lebrun's room, braving the clatter of
the old sewing machine. She sat there and chatted at intervals as Robert had done.
How does the description of the faded garment contribute to the passage?