Miyako’s Mood Board: When Life Gives You Lemon Skirts…

April 21, 2014

Every Monday, MM.LaFleur’s designer Miyako Nakamura ruminates on what’s inspiring her this week.

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Like everyone else in New York, I have been anxiously waiting for spring to come. After getting a taste of it last week, I am suddenly feeling so ready to dress in happy looking garments. Last week, I was looking for something inspiring to wear for the new season, and I came across this long, silk lemon-print skirt.

When I saw it, it gave me a feeling of freshness (literally) and visions of my summer: Rooftop party with lemons? Yes. Reading in the park with lemons? Yes. Beach at night with lemons? Maybe yes? The skirt seemed perfect for all these anticipated occasions.

But then I started to doubt myself. The print looked kind of familiar. Stella McCartney had done it a few years ago—that famous engineered fruit print. A year ago, I would have decided not to revisit this trend because I strongly believe in originality in creation and in honoring the “new.” The old me would have said this skirt is “too late to the fruit-print game,” and I would have felt somehow inauthentic if I wore it.

But I don’t feel that way anymore. Maybe I worry less about being on the cutting edge now that I’m getting older, or maybe it has to do with my recent thinking about open-source creativity. Whatever it is, my feeling towards this skirt is “just go for it and enjoy.”

The lemon skirt makes me happy, but what makes me even happier is the fact that I’ve become more flexible and open-minded about how to live and dress. Perhaps it’s an insignificant “problem” to have solved, but it feels like a big step for me. So excited for spring.

– Miyako