Ena - Day 87
Ena: I’ve had the idea of wearing something like this for a while now, and today I did it….kind of. I should probably explain that a bit more. I am really interested in mixing bright colors together and then pairing them with an “anchor” color like black or white. I’m not sure if I’m explaining it very well; does that make sense? Oh well.
I wear this shirt pretty frequently. Or, more accurately, I have three different shirts in this exact color, and I wear them pretty frequently. Though I didn’t like the outfit, I did like last Thursday’s short-pants/high-shoes combo (something else I had been meaning to try for a while) and I made a mental note to attempt the whole thing again sometime soon…which is now.
In case you were wondering, no, I did not purposefully space my short-pants/high-shoes outfits exactly one week apart; it just happened, though I will admit that it is rather odd. So, for whatever reasons, today I decided to wear this frequently worn bright fuchsia shirt, this black short-pants/high-shoes pant suit, and, to top it all off, this chartreuse-y, yellow-ish, tie-dye scarf. Tah-dah!
In all seriousness, I absolutely LOVE the way that the colors of the shirt and the scarf look together and paired with the black pant suit – I just could not for the life of me figure out how to stylishly wear them all together. Bina and I attempted a few colorful (pun intended) looks with minimal success. The problem, I think, is that the scarf is just too long; there is just too much of that beautiful fabric for one person to know what to do with…too much for this one person at least.
Bina - Day 87
Bina: Growing up with a mother whose native tongue is Japanese and a father whose native tongue is Hindi, you’d think that my brother and I would have picked up one of those two languages. We did not. We went to school in the Southern Baptist town of Aledo, TX; we lived in a neighborhood called White Settlement; there was only one black family from K-12 grades. We spoke English in my house, and we spoke it with a lot of twang. Well, except for my Mom, she still has her Japanese accent, not much Texan twang to speak of there.
We were, however, at least exposed to Indian culture because Dad’s side of the family lived nearby. My cousins and aunties made sure I was always well-versed in Bollywood movies, religious holidays, and Indian dancing. (Oh yeah, I’ve danced at a lot of Indian weddings.) But there were never any other Japanese people around. My Mom seemed like the only one, and though I know that wasn’t really the case, she was the only one in my world anyway.
I’ve wanted to be fluent in Japanese my entire life. I tried to remedy this by taking Japanese in college. I took it for two years and actually learned quite a bit; the next time we went to Japan, I was able to understand and converse much more than I had before, but without everyday practice, I quickly forgot what I had learned. While living in New York, I decided to take a brush-up course. Things came back to me fairly quickly, but, again, once classes were over, and I stopped practicing…konnichi-what now?
Okay, I exaggerate but it’s ridiculous that I can’t just have an honest-to-goodness conversation with my grandmother or cousins sans a translator or a lot of charades. I’ve got the basics, but I want to really be able to talk to them. So all this is to say that I’ve been perusing my old textbook, and looking at conversational Japanese courses in the area and online. 私の幸運を祈ってください! (Wish me luck!)
P.S. Oh right, the clothes! This pale mauve top is from the Asian designer sample grab-bag that Christine gave me. It’s totally weird; the straps in the back are twisted, and I’m not quite sure if that’s on purpose or not. But it’s really comfy and I dig its original cut. Plus, I get to try out my new strapless bra – I had a Victoria’s Secret gift certificate so I splurged and got measured. Turns out I was a different size than I thought I was. Huh.
Passionless Fashion 