The Day I Wanted to Say, 'I'm Not Unhappy!' [Human Individuality]

Previously, I posted an article titled 'Fashion is Like a Business Card That Represents Yourself'.

This time, I would like to share an episode that made me realize the importance of 'aligning your outward appearance, which is your fashion, with your inner self so that it doesn't create a sense of discomfort'.

I once had a rare experience where an elderly man (let's call him Mr. A) spoke to me on the train, and as a result of that casual conversation with a stranger, I ended up being someone who was pitied. At that time, I was wearing thick clothes that didn't suit my skeletal structure, which were looser than usual and hid my body lines. The conversation with Mr. A started as ordinary small talk, but halfway through, it expanded into a narrative where I was portrayed as someone working hard despite a somewhat unfortunate background. After that, my life story was increasingly fabricated into something miserable, and as a result, I ended up being pitied with 'That must be tough' and encouraged with 'Hang in there'.

This was born from the fact that the impression of my outfit that day did not match my own impression. I believe that the 'thick' and 'heavy' aspects of the ill-fitting clothing stood out excessively, and as a result, it gave the visual impression of someone who was a bit sluggish and slow-moving. In contrast, my character is clear and has distinct opinions, so my responses are decisive without using ambiguous expressions, and my way of thinking and speaking has a cool and sharp impression. In other words, a sense of discomfort arose due to the gap between the impression created by my clothing (outward appearance) and the impression created by my skeletal structure (inner self). I think Mr. A's mind became confused by this discomfort, and unconsciously, in an attempt to reconcile the outward and inner impressions, he tried to force me closer to the impression of my clothing. For me and MINAMI, this incident has become a funny story about how impressions created by fashion and skeletal structure can fail to align, but when you consider that it was an unconscious event, it is actually a bit scary.

This has become a lesson for me, and since then, to avoid such minor troubles, I have come to think that even when I am off-duty and not in a business setting, I need to be conscious that my clothing is like a business card that represents myself and that I must wear things that are true to who I am.

MiKA