The Red Silk Japanese Kimono - “Costumes Then And Now”

I purchased this red silk Japanese Kimono when I was 13 years old at a garage sale at the Old Town Fairfax (Virginia) fire station. I remember the original owners had been stationed in Japan and they sold it to me for a few dollars. I’ve moved around so much in my life but it’s one of those items I just love and could never part with. It has been worn on many occasions. In the first picture I’m 14 years old and wearing it during a photo shoot with my late photography mentor John Mendenhal. (He was a friend of my mother’s and we had an arrangement that I modeled for him and in return he supplied me with a 35mm camera and gave me photography lessons). The other pictures are of a LARP this year in which I played an “Evil Peking Opera Star” (I know it’s a Japanese Kimono…shhh don’t tell! ;-)).

 

Photo by John Mendenhal 

 

Photo by Andreas Lorenz

 

 Photo by Andreas Lorenz

Vintage Christian Dior Turban

I found this vintage Christian Dior Turban 15 years ago at a Goodwill shop in Virginia for $2.

For me it has a “Sunset Boulevard” feel. I wear it as a character in a Victorian LARP. I play an eccentric old Lady named Theodora Popeacock. 

She is haunted by her late, beloved pet - a yelping, psychotic Pekinese named “Pookie”. ;-)