Saturday, June 11, 2011


Perhaps it is only an implied guarantee of youth. The legend:
Powered sportswear is the sportswear created and manufactured to make being young more fun.
I recall, over two decades ago, how absurd it seemed when I began to notice that manufacturers' labels were appearing on the outside of garments as opposed to the interior. And that fashion appeared to be accepted as a statement of fashion in Tokyo at the time, among image-conscious Tokyoites. I'd bought this light cotton outfit with its hooded top and elasticized-waist trousers at a favourite shopping emporium, the Palm Arcade. I loved the walk to get to the Palm Arcade from the vicinity of the Meguro Station, near where we lived at the time; it took over an hour to get there but it was a lovely walk, passing schools, train crossings, commercial areas, shrines and temple gardens.

Almost twenty-five years later I still have that little outfit of light, white cotton. I wear it on our walks in the ravine, when the mosquitoes are really awful, to help ward them off. When I bought the outfit I was fifty years old. In retrospect, perhaps owning and retaining and wearing it still allows me to stay young and have more fun at the same time...?

Oops, my tongue's got stuck in my cheek.

No comments:

Post a Comment