whatiamwearing

Ukiyo-e Cardigan

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: It’s a rare cat fashion post today on Pictorama! I try not to subject you all to too much feline fashion, mostly the occasional Felix or Kim Deitch t-shirt, but today is a jolly exception.

While I have well documented many interesting purchases via Instagram (it seemed to take hold during Covid) it has been almost entirely restricted to antique jewelry and collectibles. (For some of the other Instagram purchase posts you can have a peek here and here. For a prior t-shirt post you can read it here.) However today’s sweater is an adventure into unchartered territory. I would rate it as successful.

Me this AM with Pride and Prejudice playing in the background and modeling with sweatpants.

Last Christmas I veered (somewhat regrettably) off this path and purchased mugs with pet pics for my friends and Cookie and Blackie decorated socks for Kim. These had mixed results at best with black cats reading murky on mug and socks – the fluffy white bichon of my friend on a green mug being the winner of that group and Cookie better than Blackie on the socks. The same company is trying to sell me pet photo pj’s this year. (My friends and Kim can rest assured that I am not trying that!) Still, generally being an optimist, hope springs eternal and I could hardly whip my credit card out fast enough for this sweater and I do not regret it.

Friends and family, you are safe this year! Not purchasing these…

An advertisement for this cardigan came up in my feed one sleepy morning several weeks ago. When I first saw it I thought it was a one off and as soon as I realized that it could be purchased I snatched it up in the twinkling of an eye. I remain unsure if the company is in Japan although ultimately the order was fulfilled out of North Carolina. It has been about a month and I confess I was a bit worried about if it would arrive or if I would get an email demanding an additional Trump tariff to bring it into the country. However, it didn’t cost a fortune and I figured I would just write it off in my mind if it never came or if it was dreadful once it did.

Kitty couture has been sneaking into my wardrobe lately.

It arrived last night and I confess, I think it is a bit whacky but really utterly splendid. And frankly if working for an animal hospital doesn’t give me some latitude on cunning cat clothing than I can’t imagine who has a better job for sporting it. Admittedly, feline fashion has been sneaking into my wardrobe recently – a top with a black cat head, a winter scarf with cat images and even cat headed gloves for fall.

Sorry I can’t get a better photo but this is another worthy version. Congregating kitties.

I will confess that it is made of what I would best describe as a “wool-like” fabric, not surprising at the price point it was purchased at. (However, on a cheerful note it will frustrate the moths that continue to plague me.) The sizes (is it considered unisex I wonder?) seem to run a tad large and I think the small will be a bit big on me. Cardigan sizing is of course pretty forgiving. I could say that this is just for weekends but no, I am planning on styling this baby for the office!

Wikipedia tells us the true significance of ukiyo-e lies in its reflection of the transient, pleasurable aspects of life in Edo Japan. This genre offers insight into the aesthetics, values, and lifestyle of a society fascinated with present pleasures and cultural experiences. One site calls the original cat prints the cat memes of the 18th century.

Historic woodblock prints of the kind that inspired this sweater pattern above.

Of course the real stars on this sweater are the kitties. They stare at us, appear to wave, one paw up. they all seem to sport sort of bow-tied neckerchiefs.

Evidently based on historical Ukiyo-e woodblock prints of somewhat anthropomorphic cats, these are a clearly contemporary take. My sweater is called Many Cats Are Watching You. The Japanese writing appears to say things like, Humans are truly useless – sort of like the Japanese cat version of the candy hearts you get on Valentine’s Day.

I believe the translation is Look at me forever.
And Humans are truly useless.

If you too just must have one, my cat cardigan can be purchased here. As I said, it runs a tad large in my opinion and is indeed made of some fabric which might originally have been old soda bottles. The company name is Tokyo-Tiger and their website seems to break down into items by animal type – cat, frog, raccoon. There are a lot of t-shirts of little interest to me, a few other cat cardigans of note however – I could have a wardrobe of them. You can also acquire hats, towels, pajamas and coasters. For me, it is a about the clutch of kitty cardigans however.

Advertised as an “ugly” sweater, I take a bit of umbrage at that. I am thinking it needs the simplicity of a straight black skirt or trousers with either a tank or a turtleneck under it, maybe a belt and perhaps pearls to elevate it a bit. If I did own yellow or hot pink trousers I would be tempted however as well. While the possibilities are not quite endless, for now I plan to wear my cat love on my sleeve for all to admire.

Rare Gem

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today I am veering off my cat course to write about a recent jewelry purchase. October, the witchy month of fall, is a perfect time to write about opals as it is the birthstone for those born this month. I must be an October baby at heart because I never seem to get enough of them.

I write today with some trepidation because I know I will not be able to photograph these gems properly to give you a sense of the glorious fire and snapping color they sport when you see them in person and moving in the light. In fact, when I bought the necklace above on an auction site recently, I was taking a bit of a chance as their photos were lousy too. I admit up front that none of these photos do the beauty of these glittering changeable gems any justice.

Pictorama readers may remember that I wrote about my love of opals quite extensively in posts that can be found here and here. Two opal rings were given to me as gifts, but I am not sure I can easily remember which was the first opal I purchased, although there are two necklaces I bought from my friend and jeweler (@murielchastanet_finejewelry) on the west coast many years ago. One is of opals from New Zealand and the other is made up of flat Ethiopian opals.

New Zealand opals cut in slices! This was the first necklace I purchased and I have never seen one like it since. This came to me via Muriel Chastanet’s store in Los Angeles.

The necklace I just purchased is the sibling to that one – in blues instead of oranges but I believe they are Ethiopian opals. Because I owned that one I recognized this one right away and took a closer look. They looked interesting however there was no way I would pay nearly as much from an online auction as I had paid to a trusted jeweler. I can say that these could easily look like a meh string of overpriced beads.

This necklace is the second opal I have bought from this auction site (I purchased a ring, shown below, more or less uncontested over the summer) and I think I keep looking because frankly opals don’t seem to sell well for them. Unlike strands of pearls and jewelry from contemporary designers opals, luckily for me, do not seem to be popular.

The yellow/orange beads came from the wonderful Muriel Chastanet establishment. I have tried to show them together although not a great pic!

So I gather that the premise of the auction house, called Everything but the House, is to essentially clean out houses and estates and sell every last thing of value via live auction on their site. A league of experts in different areas descend on you and voila – they put it all online and sell it. They had (have?) a television show devoted to it I saw a few years ago. I’m always curious what will turn up in such random slices of life and collections. However it never occurred to me to look at the auctions until good ole Instagram marketed it to me.

Yes, while other people are fretting about politics on social media, I am just spending money like a drunken sailor. It started during the pandemic and has burgeoned over time. Before that I largely confined myself to eBay and a few well known toy auctions. Not now – I’m making deals for things I spot in photos, have all sorts of obscure auctions on my calendar and the folks at Live Auctioneers totally have me in their clutches, emailing me reams of images daily they think I should see. (I seem to largely get outbid on that site as I am rarely there for the finish and true to their name a lot of action seems to happen in the final minutes.)

The other ring I bought from this auction house, shown in an antique ring box from my collection.

In the end I was not the only bidder on the necklace but I got it for very little. I did something I almost never do. When I saw an outbid email I went back and put another small increment on and won it.

My father’s mother went to auctions all the time and furnished her house and then some with her purchases. (For my dad it was estate auctions but more about that another time.) In her day those were of course in person and she would come into Manhattan from Westchester for them. She always said to set your limit and do not allow yourself to get chased above it. I’m sure she’d forgive me on this occasion however. (You can read more about Gertie, aka Tootsie, Butler here. I dearly wish I could have one afternoon as an adult talking to her about the auctions she went to!)

My orange “circus” beads in their original box.

Anyway, long story short I won the necklace and it arrived via Fedex the other day. Even at the price I paid (a true small fraction of what I paid for my other one) I was somewhat on pins and needles to see it. Oh man, I was not disappointed. It was sent unromantically but effectively wrapped in a bit of bubble wrap which I quickly sliced open.

A sort of side-by-side view.

I could see the changing color and fire in the stones immediately. Unlike my other necklace these are each faceted, unlike my other ones where are each smooth. The clasp and stringing is perhaps a bit inferior, although they still lay nicely on my neck where they have largely resided since I got them. It seems no matter what I wear they pick up the color and shoot it back differently! On the first day I wore a green top and it took on a slightly green blue hue, red makes them more blue as does black.

I always call my other strand my circus beads (oh to go to that carnival!) and now I have two. Lucky girl! I have not yet figured out if I can wear them together but I find them incredibly cheerful and intend to wear them often.