a midsummer fedora

*

*

before august started,

my summer (painting) “white” project had been completed.

the new white floors of my living room and bedroom look so cool.

still, japan continues to boil.

i never like sultry days like these.

but i should try to see the positive side of the heat…

let me tell you…ah, i always love straw hats!

i used to have a english fedora and a french canotier that i really loved.

actually,

in early july when i got a paint can, a roller and brushes from a diy shop,

i bought myself a cheap and ubiquitous straw hat,

i want this straw hat to look old-ish,

so i put it on whenever i go out to wear it out fast.

i also have a fedora that looks a bit similar to my old one.

i did impulse-buy when i found it four summers ago.

and it would show up on my hatstand every summer.

it stays new since i’ve never worn it.

sadly because it no longer fits my style… say, age.

but i cherish my fedora.

fedoras have made a worldwide comeback for the past one or two years,

which is great.

*

***

*

recalling

an

english

cool

summer

i

wore

my

favourite

fedora

wherever

i

went.

have a lovely summer week!

*

*

london, and paris

hello

and thank you for dropping me a line,

my beautiful friends!

i finally sent my manuscript (for a book i translated) to my editor over the net a few days ago, i decided to do nothing for a while. i was shattered. in the mean time, i started thinking about fashion as this year’s catwalk season kicked off. i’m not really a fashion enthusiast, though. i just look forward to checking reports on fashion weeks. then, i found alexander mcqueen’s sad news yesterday. what a tragedy.

there were young and talented british designers who worked in paris, and then they moved back to london just like mcqueen. when i think of london and paris, i miss something that eventually almost disappeared from the both cities over the last two decades. it’s milliner. millinery is the most romantic item for fashion design, i believe. no matter how unpractical, millinery is lovely to look at. especially in catwalks, it plays the most fantastical role. mcqueen did excellent shows with it.

pic 1, 4 a milliner on the left bank, paris.
pic 2, 3 the hat shop in neal street, london.
all pics from films taken in the 90’s.


have a romatic weekend, girls (and boys)!!

little grey dress

a mother of the groom -- i am going to be. i am going up to tokyo for my son’s wedding this weekend. he and his girlfriend have been living together for almost five years now and at last, this sunday, they are tying the knot at the imperial shrine, meiji jingo. we have a wedding reception afterwards. mr piano-man (my ex-husband, he will be playing his tune on the piano) and i will be the parents of the groom. wonderful. the thing is, i still have no idea what a mother of the groom really should wear.

in japan, most mothers would be in a traditional garment, kimono, for the children's wedding. in my case, no. i’m not good at conventional things. i had my son when i was just twenty-one and i cannot be a mothering type for ever. i still go on in the same old dr martens or cowboy boots. but yet, it’d be nice for me to be feminine once in a long while. i wish i was like carine roitfeld this sunday, though i usually wish i was like angela merkel … i’m just kidding and besides, i am even (but only a little bit) younger than them.

i don’t know the dress rules. i’m not good at sticking to them either, even if i knew any. anyway, i’ve chosen to wear this grey sheath dress. i didn’t buy its matched bolero because the design was not my cup of tea. instead, my pink pashmina shawl would be a match, but not for the wedding? and i’d better hide my arms? so, i’ve decided to wear my purple silk chiffon blouse over this twinkling grey number. in that case, my shawl and clutch should be black to glam up like this? -- i hope my “mother of the groom gear” will be all right.

wish me luck?

*