Fa-fa-fa-fa-FASHION!

The striped kosode is coming along nicely. The body and overlap panels are done. I just need to make the sleeves, attach the collar and hem. While horizontal stripes are a no-no in most cases, they are absolutely PERFECTAMUNDO for 16th century Japanese.

O my readers, I live upon an island. In general, it is a very lovely island with a small town feel to most of the neighborhoods. However, what passes for a mall at South Shore Center leaves a great deal to be desired. The Safeway, Walgreens and Trader Joe's are useful, as is the Great Clips, where I can get a no-frills hair-trim without being ripped off. However, the choices for clothing shopping are dismal. The TJ Maxx which opened a few months ago should be better than it is. The Mervyns, which sucked from the get-go, is is closing. There's Rainbow, which caters to juniors with no money or taste, there's Old Navy, which is almost as bad, and there's The Avenue, which is fine if you wear plus sizes and useless if you do not.   (South Shore has been undergoing construction ever since I moved here. There's an awful LOT of empty shops waiting for tenants. We did just get a Borders, but I'd rather go into Berkeley to Moe's, given the choice.)

I lost a lot of weight last year, kept most of it off and I thought it would be nice to have a summery dress for the occasional non-SCA social outing. I have been browsing various places on my way home from work (i.e., not on the island) and came to the conclusion that I could not find anything that I liked.  Make that anything I liked that wasn't a size 2. Or black. Or looked cute on the hanger and felt nasty in the hand.

It probably did not help that I happened to channel surf past the last scenes of  "Pretty In Pink" the other evening. (That is one ugly dress. I thought so then, I think so now.)

So this morning, I went over to Silk Road Fabrics in Oakland, which is having a big sale and bought myself a couple of yards of orange-shot-with-black dupioni at 25% off  (after a great deal of dithering as I tried to decide what color silk I wanted.) It gets to be the "What Next?"after I finish the kosode.

If you're still wondering why I'm into the Japanese stuff....

Here's a concept that made me swoon when I encountered it: the incense pillow, or komakura (KOH MAH-koo-rah.) This one's in the Suntory Museum in Japan and dates from the late 16th century.
A drawer which can't be seen in this photo allows one to slip a small incense burner inside this small box. The komakura would be set directly behind the sleeper's regular pillow (which was most likely a square box or bolster about the same size) and her long hair draped over the box to be scented while she slept. (Image is from a catalogue titled Autumn Grasses and Water: Motifs In Japanese Art (1983, Japan Society).