Active Voice: Fashion Check
Challenge
by P. Kristen Enos
(Originally posted Jan 3, '10. All rights
reserved.)
If someone were to actually ask,
I would explain that I’m not as butch as I dress.
I consider my preferred style of t-shirt, jeans and
sneakers as being ‘practical’. I usually have
short hair and I don’t wear make-up because I want
to spend that primping time doing other, more
important things, like sleeping or eating.
To me, the way I dress would be
determined by effort and reward. I have no
problems putting on heels and pantyhose (pictures do
exist) – but not to sit at my computer terminal all
day. I am one of those people that if I showed
up at work in a skirt, everyone would assume that I
have a job interview. And it would be true.
That’s not to say that I can’t
appreciate someone else’s fashion efforts.
However, my level of interest is usually a quick
note of “That looks good (or maybe not)” and then my mind
moves on to more important thoughts. In fact,
it’s the same level of interest that I have in
sports (which is almost nil).
The irony of my being a groupie
of the band Hangry & Angry has not been lost on me.
If you did not know: H&A is a Japanese (now) digital
grunge band that is the “human” incarnation of the
mascot characters by the artist GASHICON for the
popular Japanese designer h.NAOTO. So they’re
a musical act that’s really about selling goth/pink
clothes.
My personal level of interest
started with
the involvement of Rika Ishikawa and Hitomi
Yoshizawa, the idols hired to be these characters
for records and concerts. And it helps that
the music being produced and their concerts are
really, really good. And I am also aware of
the fact that these two young women are usual
fashion icons on their own, changing their hair and
clothing styles like chameleons.
Since I saw H&A's international
debut in Seattle, Washington in April ’09, I was
definitely willing to go to their European debut in
Paris in October. Yes, Paris, the fashion
capital of the world.
Well, I had to admit I was kind
of excited at the idea of doing some special clothes
shopping for the trip, especially since I was going
with a press team and wanted to make a better than
average fan impression. Plus, it'd been a long
time since I had a reason to go real clothes
shopping so I wanted to take advantage of the
impulse while I had it.
During one my preparatory
shopping trips, I actually went to an outlet in L.A.
with my gay male best friend, which turned out to be
a first for us to shop for clothes together.
Which we will never do again. (Our usual
method of shopping is to separate at the entrance
and when someone is ready to check out, hunt the
other one down so we can coordinate leaving
together.)
We had gone into a leather store
and I found a hat that I wanted to buy as something
to keep my slightly growing bangs out of my face and
to be an option against potential rain. (I told you
that my fashion sense was practical.) When I
had put the hat on and asked the infamous question
“How do I look?”, he paused and responded that he
couldn’t help but think the hat would look so much
better if my hair was much longer.
...
So I decided to get the hat
anyway because I liked it and then moved over to the
leather jackets.
I saw a red one in a style that
was once again met my practical standards.
However, the sleeves seemed to be a bit big. When I called him over to double-check how it
looked, he had another strange look on his face but
then agreed the sleeves were too long. But
I really, really wanted it and thought about going
to another store to see if they would have one that
fit better.
Oh, and my friend explained that
his response was due to him thinking that the jacket
looked really good on me but he just wasn’t used to
be me being that fashionable.
...
Well, that night I happened to
see a recent television appearance for Yossy and saw
that she wore a red leather jacket that was very,
very similar to the one I wanted. That made me
decide to give up on it because THAT much of
a fan, I am not.
So yes, my attempt to bring my
fashion level up for a Paris resulted in buying a
leather hat. That was good enough for me.
Well, I also resolved to at least wear leather shoes
instead of sneakers.
Now fast forward a couple of
weeks later to when I'm standing on the sidewalk outside of the
Press and VIP entrance of the Expo while waiting for
my press partner Kim to show up before the doors
officially opened. And yes, I had my leather
hat on, both for the original fashion sense and the
fact that the sky was not looking too pleasant.
Due to jetlag and boredom, I was half mentally
zoned-out when I suddenly noticed an unusual amount
of activity with a shuttle van that had pulled up
nearby.
Sure enough, it was Rika and
Yossy with their entourage. I only had a
couple of seconds to focus on the fact that they
passed by within two feet of me before being quickly
escorted into the VIP entrance.
When Rika walked by in her simple
casual wear and sunglasses, I couldn't help but be
reminded of recent fan message board rantings where
people were in dismay over her cutting her hair
short again. Most of the negative remarks
focused on the lamenting over how her hair looked so
much better long.
Frankly speaking, when she walked
by, I just thought "Wow, she's hot!" No
fancy clothes. No fancy make-up. No
fancy hairstyle.
And to me, that's the true
standard of whether someone looks good or not. ANYONE
can get dolled up and be impressive. I'm more
impressed when someone doesn't really try and
they're still eye-catching. And I'm glad I'm
not the type of person to be obsessed with fashion
hang-ups that I can't appreciate the forest for the
trees.
(Oh, and by the way, Yossy was
slightly crouched with a hooded parka over her head
so I didn't get a good view of anything but her face
peering curiously.)
About an hour later, I had come
up to the pretty empty VIP area and found myself a
table with a seat that faced the entire room since I
like having a general view of things. Due to
chatting with staff members, I knew that Rika and
Yossy were busy with sound check in the concert
hall. I was glad to have a moment of peace and
quiet without carrying video equipment, and
appreciating my new hat, which I continue to wear
throughout the Expo.
A few minutes later, Kim showed
up and sat down at the chair across from me. And a
few minutes after that, Rika and Yossy came up and
walked by us. Though I made a point of not
staring, I could see them clearly, and Kim could not
because her back was towards them -- which she
promptly muttered how much she hated me at that
moment for it. And I wasn't about to change
seats with her.
Since there were now several
press and staff members in the VIP room, I was
barely paying attention to the fact that Kim was
madly making notes of some kind. She finally
looked up at me and hissed, "What kind of shirt is
Rika wearing?!"
I stared at Kim.
"... It's gray," I
answered without looking to double-check.
Her responding glare then made
me aware of
the point that while I certainly didn't care, there
were at least tens of thousands of fans who would
give their (insert name of prized anatomy part) to
be in my position.
So in my best stealth-mode, I
looked again and gave further details of the style
of the shirt, length of sleeves, the designs on the
back, etc. To which Kim made detailed notes.
I felt like I had totally
betrayed my standards. But at least not as
much as than the time when
I sat down with my feminist jaw clamped shut at a
Vegas blackjack table and gambled for an hour next
to a guy who wore a t-shirt that said "Boobies make
me smile." Though it felt pretty close.
And a postscript: When I had
returned to the States and saw some publicity pics
of Yossy from a Japanese event that had happened a couple
weeks prior to the expo, I saw that she wore a
leather hat that looked very much like mine.
The fact that I was irritated by that unfortunately
proved to me that I probably care more about fashion
that I wanted to admit.
|
