Day 5th
It should be their work, not my work. I love imperfection. Stop being perfect.
“My workshop should be their work, not my
work.” Pascale told me when we had lunch, eating soba together before her
workshop. “I think it is beautiful when people make clothes by themselves,
especially those who do not know that they can make clothes.” She is a master
of finding beauty within us, with living people and life surrounding us. Day
after day, I notice Pascale often talking to women “how beautiful!” about what
they have done. Then women become more and more spontaneous. This is such a
beautiful situation and moves me a lot.
In her workshop today, women showed
possible accessories ideas to give individuality to their uniform. Pascale also
showed images that give hints to them. Images of Russian guards who do not wear
uniform and how they look maching with the art pieces. Images of Boro. The
clothes she made. The very first indigo die fabric she did in her shool days.
This workshop give participants homeworks.
Pascale talks them every time what they need to work on at home. And also they
spend a lot of daytime spending in museum working with Pascale. Women wants to
work more, and more. That is amazing. While working, Pascale talks what I
believe quite imporatant for us living today, casually, intimately,
entusiasticly.
“I like imperfection. I love it a lot.”
“Clothes, when you buy from shops, they
always look perfect. But it is important to know that clothes also live,
reacting on your needs in your life. In western society clothes should be
perfect, it is believewd. In Japanese society, also uniform should be perfect,
it is believed. But then, who cares about people wearing them? Things made by
human hands are not so perfect. People in my mothers generation are more used
to hand made clothes which are not that perfect. Instead, all the media
surrounding us and society threaten us that our faces and clothes should look perfect.
But those are things made in factories.
Nowadays, people do not write by hand, draw by hand, which does not look
perfect.”
“Some male philosophers are drawn to think
about death. But I am drawn to life. So are women philosophers are. Like Hannah
Arendt.”
“We are constantly changing. We live and in
everyday life we keep changing. If you look at children they have so much power
of life. When they start walking, they try so many times even they fail. So we
have power inside to try, without worrying about failure. But when we learn
rules in our society, we learn to respond what is expected and being perfect.”
So, stop trying to be perfect, Pascale encourages us, with smile and warmth.