This is a terrible photo, but I wanted to show you the outfit that gave me a lot of satisfaction yesterday. Underneath the duffle coat (I don't know what other countries call this kind of Paddington-coat) is a teal-coloured wool-acrylic blend dress. The dress I unexpectedly found in a second-hand store in Australia. The coat I picked up off a free give-away table at a missionary meeting in Sapporo many years ago.
I have been very conservative in my dress-sense most of my life. Growing up in sunny Queensland my main wardrobe staple was t-shirts and shorts. That's had to change, obviously, with age, responsibility, and especially with climate.
In Japan we've experience more cold weather than either of us ever knew in Australia. Even me, who grew up in Toowoomba, a place that many Queenslanders know is one of the cooler places in the state.
Learning to dress for the weather was one thing we did out of necessity in our first few months in the country, as we landed in freezing Sapporo in December. Long-johns layered under long pants, two layers of socks (at least for me), extra layers underneath our shirts. Boots too! And then, of course, the outside wear: scarves, gloves, hats, and coats. All these things became necessary parts of our winter wardrobe.
Less quickly I figured out that other seasons also had special clothing you could wear. The majority of the year in Tokyo is either hot or cold, the seasons in-between that are unstable and generally (to a Queenslander used to much less seasonal variation in temperatures) seem to be a rush from one extreme to the other. So the fun of dressing for the in-between seasons were largely lost on me for many years.
However, that's changing. I've got a variety of levels of clothing now. Different weight and length clothes for different seasons. I don't spend much money on clothes that I can't wear often (like a light jacket for early autumn and late spring), but I've acquired a number of very useful items on sale and from secondhand stores. I also don't discard clothes easily, most of my clothes get worn for many years before they are thrown out.
Anyway, back to yesterday. A short-sleeve above-knees woollen dress is really not my usual style, but it's in my favourite colour and is very comfortable. Perfect, with tights and a long-sleeve t-shive for dressing up on those rare in-between days. Yesterday was forecast to be a mild winter day (around 15C), which I knew would work with this dress. And I had an occasion to wear it—I was going to an annual prayer and fellowship day with some other missionary women. I threw the duffle coat over the top because when I left it was still under 10C, so an extra layer was needed outside.
My love affair with the duffle coat goes back to high school days. I went to a state school that had an inadequate winter uniform. Many of the students wore duffle coats over their uniform and it was a highly desirable item. But very expensive! So I didn't have one. When I spotted this on a give-away table it was a no-brainer that I wanted it. Finally, a "childhood" dream to own such a coat. It doesn't get a lot of wear as it is quite bulky and if there's a breeze, the gaps aren't so good (it doesn't have a zip), but I always feel just a little stylish wearing it. Wearing it over the dress was the perfect warmth combo yesterday and it felt just right.
Just assuring you that this plain missionary can have a bit of fun with her clothes and is increasingly finding that is the case as she moves further and further away from her youth.
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