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The only mirrors in my apartment are the bathroom mirror, which is small, and a little make-up mirror (the kind with a regular side and an enlarging side) that my mother gave me years ago and that I never really used before, because I'm not exactly a make-up-wearing kind of girl. Oh yeah, and the little pocket mirror A-L gave me because she's no longer around to tell me I have food stuck in my teeth. What else are friends for, eh? Anyway, I was thinking that I really should go out and buy a full-length mirror, when it suddenly dawned on me that I have a dress form so why not use it? And it only took me months to think of this. I'm so smart, sometimes.
I may have mentioned that I named the dress form Brunhilde, but I don't think I ever explained why. It was in honour of Brunhilde Murgatroyd, which is what my father named the nameless kindergarten teacher in a book I had as a kid. I think the title was "My First Day At Kindergarten", or something along those lines, and it was a Little Golden Book. The other touch my father always added to the story was that when Jack (or Johnny?) spilled his milk, which actually does happen, the main character, a little girl, called him a clumsy oaf. My father always liked to read me the unexpurgated versions of books, you see, which is why I know, as so few people do, that Frodo awoke many times to find Gandalf trying to plunge a dagger into his (Frodo's, not his own) heart. Likewise, Aragorn keeled over from many a heart attack.
To get back to the clothes, I still can't get over how well-dressed and well-shod Tokyo women (and many men) are. Not everyone of course, but most women below the age of 35 or so, no matter what style they favour, obviously put a lot of thought into what they wear. Whether they took a cue from store mannequins or assembled their outfit on their own, there's an attention to detail, colours and proportion that I love. It's often not exactly what we're used to seeing in North America, especially the clever layering (though that's been going on for a few years back home, only not so adventurously), but it works. Unfortunately, I'm a good deal hippier than the average Japanese woman, not many of whom seem to have a 10 inch + difference between waist and hips, so many of the silhouettes would look wrong on me, but I'm trying. Skinny jeans are certainly wrong for me, but the boots + black tights + light, floaty skirt + layered top look? Love it. What better way to wear a summer skirt in what is still technically winter? And I have plenty of summer skirts. In fact, I love skirts, period, and women wear them a lot more here than back home, whether it's because of the milder weather or the fact that with more tradtional gender roles still in place, there's much more emphasis on looking pretty and feminine.
I may have mentioned that I named the dress form Brunhilde, but I don't think I ever explained why. It was in honour of Brunhilde Murgatroyd, which is what my father named the nameless kindergarten teacher in a book I had as a kid. I think the title was "My First Day At Kindergarten", or something along those lines, and it was a Little Golden Book. The other touch my father always added to the story was that when Jack (or Johnny?) spilled his milk, which actually does happen, the main character, a little girl, called him a clumsy oaf. My father always liked to read me the unexpurgated versions of books, you see, which is why I know, as so few people do, that Frodo awoke many times to find Gandalf trying to plunge a dagger into his (Frodo's, not his own) heart. Likewise, Aragorn keeled over from many a heart attack.
To get back to the clothes, I still can't get over how well-dressed and well-shod Tokyo women (and many men) are. Not everyone of course, but most women below the age of 35 or so, no matter what style they favour, obviously put a lot of thought into what they wear. Whether they took a cue from store mannequins or assembled their outfit on their own, there's an attention to detail, colours and proportion that I love. It's often not exactly what we're used to seeing in North America, especially the clever layering (though that's been going on for a few years back home, only not so adventurously), but it works. Unfortunately, I'm a good deal hippier than the average Japanese woman, not many of whom seem to have a 10 inch + difference between waist and hips, so many of the silhouettes would look wrong on me, but I'm trying. Skinny jeans are certainly wrong for me, but the boots + black tights + light, floaty skirt + layered top look? Love it. What better way to wear a summer skirt in what is still technically winter? And I have plenty of summer skirts. In fact, I love skirts, period, and women wear them a lot more here than back home, whether it's because of the milder weather or the fact that with more tradtional gender roles still in place, there's much more emphasis on looking pretty and feminine.
