"When I wear a uniform, I am a woman, not a mother, not a wife." - Mayumi
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Mayumi:
“When I wear a uniform, I am a woman, not a mother, not a wife.”
“I collect uniforms,
I love uniforms. I even sent my 2 children to a private school so they can
experience the joy of wearing a uniform. I love uniformity.”
“It is like a switch,
when I wear a uniform I am on.”
Contrary to what I
imagined when I read Mayumi’s letter, Mayumi has a very flamboyant and lively
nature. She collects and preserves all the uniforms she has ever worn for a job
or a certain occasion. On the first day we all met she was wearing a bright
green uniform with golden details and a matching hat, she had brought a
shocking pink uniform to show us. Her collection is a parade of uniforms,( to
parade herself.)
Yukari
Inspired by Crystal
Paine’s book Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, Yukari has been throwing or giving
things away that she hasn’t used in 3 years. When she received my letter to
come dressed in something that is emotional meaningful for her, she panicked;
most things from the past she no longer possessed. Then she remembered a
leather jacket that she had bought in her early 20’s, 20 years ago; it is a
jacket from Banana Republic, a brand that was special to her when she was
young. The jacket carried memories from the year that she studied in New York.
“I tried it on this
morning and it still fits !”
Aki
Aki wore a small blue
dress jacket. Before she married her husband, she had arranged a lunch for both
their parents to meet. For such an occasion it wouldn’t be appropriate to wear
a dress, an occasion like this asks for something more formal. Just before
lunch she hurried to a shop and bought this jacket and a blouse underneath to
wear to the lunch. She has not worn the jacket or the blouse since.
Ayaka
As a small child
Ayaka’s parents used to dress her mostly in pink. I had asked Mayumi earlier if
wearing a uniform also was an expression of her sexuality as a woman. Ayaka
connected to the affirmative answer Mayumi responded with. When Ayaka entered
college she became very interested in gender issues and wanted to explore her way
of dressing. On Thursday she was wearing a leather motor-cycle jacket, combat
pants and sneakers. She referred to her clothes as boy’s clothes, as neutral
clothes. I asked her how it expressed her sexual identity, she replied that she
still identified as female but that the clothes were an expression of the
role/persona she wanted to play. She felt uncomfortable wearing the clothes
now, because she doesn’t wear clothes like this anymore and the other guards
don’t know her like this.
Mio
Mio was wearing blue jeans
and a blue thin wool turtle neck sweater that she had bought when she was 18
years old, more then 20 years ago. When she bought the jeans they looked too
new, and she treated them with different chemicals to make them look worn. The
sweater is in a very fragile state; she has worn it often but tries to wash it
as little as possible so that it will last longer. She feels very comfortable
in her clothes although she knows that they are not fashionable now. Her
preferences for dress have changed over time, when she was young she wanted to
dress “cute”, in her early twenties she wanted to dress “cool”.
“I always thought I
wanted to buy clothes that I would still wear when I was 40 years old”
Aya
Aya was wearing a
beige wool sweater adorned with a grid of tiny pearls. The supermarket she always
goes to also carries clothes; she had seen the sweater a few times already, but
every time felt it was too expensive for her to buy. One day, one year ago,
next week, Aya went to the supermarket again and parked her car in the parking
lot as usual. She walked into the shop and to her delight the sweater was on
sale! She couldn’t believe her luck! She was very happy and bought the sweater.
After she finished shopping, she walked back to the parking lot to find her car
windows scattered and her personal belongings gone, many important documents
and items were stolen from her car.
She left the sweater
in a bag in a corner of her home for two weeks, it was too painful to even look
at the sweater, but then she decided that the sweater was a good reminder to
her and to others who want to hear about it, to never leave “price-less” things
behind in your car.
“ On top of it all it
started to snow !”
During the first
meeting, Aya had a blanket on her thighs with snow crystals printed on it.
Asuna
Asuna was wearing a
simple rectangular cotton top and a long black skirt that almost reached the
floor. The long black skirt was made for her to play the cello on stage when
she was a freshman in college. The skirt is very wide so that the cello fits
between her legs.
“My grand-mother was
a tailor, she helped me to make the top I wear, I made the top for my first singing
performance. ”
“ I have never worn
these two garments together.”
“Making and thinking
about the clothes helped me to explore and find my creative self”
Hitomi (MeMe)
Hitomi was wearing a
40’s/50’s dress with a green barrette. She had brought 2 items of clothing that
she wanted to speak about. Hitomi described herself as having a very traditional
body shape as a Japanese woman; short legs, a short torso and a long face. When
she was younger this was very challenging for her, until the day that she
bought her first kimono at a flea market in Kyoto, the city where she attended
art school. When she wears the kimono she feels that the parts of her body that
she doesn’t like come out very well. Since she mostly wears vintage clothing,
and takes pride in Japanese culture and tradition.
The second garment
she showed was a coat that her grand mother used to wear. The garment is
peacock blue; it has the shape of a kimono, and its details refer to a western
women’s coat.
“Kyoto is a very
special city, very different then other cities in Japan”
Hitomi works in a
second hand clothing shop and is touched that people took care of their clothes
so well that they survived over time. She strongly relates to the energy that
is still present in the garments.