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| The Mazda Miata of kimonos |
One morning I woke up to yet another website trying to get me to sign up for daily emails. And just before I put it in the trash, I clicked on it and there was this headline: This Kimono is the Mazda Miata of robes. I bought it. I mean who could resist?
I owned a 1992 Miata and when people ask me what my favorite car in the world is, I say it still is my 1992 Miata, which ended up totaled but that's a story for another day. And I still miss it.
Has the bathrobe satisfied my longings for my lost car? No. But it was $20, it fits like a Snuggie but it doesn't turn you into a block-of blue-lard-weirdo––one who loses her dignity when company's not around and it is the . . . well, and that's the other thing that struck me. Remember when the gold standard was Cadillac?
Highly prized products that were the nonpareil of whatever were called the "Cadillac of ________________".
Cadillac is finally making the right moves. Could they regain that status? It's unlikely that Cadillac can regain the title, given the extremely high standards throughout the automotive industry. But I'd put Cadillac's ATS up against any other performance car available today any day of the week. It's a killer and I mean that in a very good way.
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| Hope I don't look too smug here. |
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This is, however, the first time I've ever seen anything called the Mazda Miata of . . .. And since I love Miatas and have always loved Miatas I bought the robe. And let me just say that it is a perfect analogy. The robe fits my personality to a T. It manages its flair by balancing it with pragmatism, it fits perfectly, the materials are good quality. There's only one thing wrong with it--the belt loops don't have any relationship to my waist. My Miata had only one thing wrong with it––manual side mirrors. The mirrors are automatic on later models. I can't speak for the belt loops.
I deleted the shopping website even though it has the best copy I've ever read--better than J. Peterman. I cut and paste the bathrobe copy here for your enjoyment.
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| Me in the Miata. |
"The
Kimono is the Mazda Miata of robes. Take that as you will. Listen,
we're not here to be overly judgmental. And we're not saying you don't look
good in that zippy little kimono. We're just saying, maybe you shouldn't act so
proud of it, because it gives off the wrong impression.
What
you want people to think is, "That person is super fun and quirky!"
Not "That person is clearly overcompensating for shortfalls in other parts
of their life."
So
next time you slip into that something-more-comfortable, here's what to do. Own
it, but with a quiet confidence. Don't go strutting around with a smug look on
your face, winking and shooting your finger guns at everyone who glances your
way. Because people WILL make fun of you. And you'll be too wrapped up in your
damaskness to even notice." The website name is Woot.com.
And Miatas still rule. I drove the 2013 MX5 around the Cape this summer top down. What a blast. Plus I gained so many points with the great nieces and nephews, it was, um, like, awesome.
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Christopher Wool's work is self-explanatory. He makes word paintings, gestural paintings. A massive sculpture, placed outside the Guggenheim, takes you to his world of swirling, muted gesture painting. Like other New York School painters he pours paint onto his canvases, rice paper, metal, other surfaces. Hung abutting each other are a hundred photographs. Again words. He sees grays and blacks and light in the urban settings that he has captured with his camera. As you go up levels, the paintings have color, get bigger, many patterns on patterns. But there is something about this artist--the way in which he makes a painting--that has a lot of emotion to it. You connect through form and through his use of grays, blacks, white and then Color!
