The Secret Behind Their Uniqueness: Ms. Palmer
Written by Luna T. and Chihiro T.
Photo of Ms. Palmer’s outfit by Mika Yanagisawa
Teacher introduction: Monique Palmer
Vice-principal for MYP and DP
MYP coordinator
Ms. Palmer and her special style
For this interview, we spoke to Ms. Palmer about the unique and original clothes that she wears. We conducted this interview because we thought that many people would be curious about this topic, and we are personally also interested in finding the answer to her uniqueness.
We first asked her about when and why she started to become interested in fashion.
Ms. Palmer started to get really interested in art in grade 7. She started to listen to punk, grunge, and metal music, which made her realize that she wanted to dress more alternatively. She later discovered that she can sew, tie-dye, and modify her own clothes. She got a job at a thrift store, sorting through new clothes, which allowed her to get first pick on good 1970s clothing. Her job at the thrift store allowed her to help out the community and find good vintage clothes. During the 90s she dressed in 80s vintage, Right Girl, Babes in Toyland, and Bikini Kill. When she got older she dressed in 1920s vintage, Hitchcock from North by Northwest, or business looks.
Ms. Palmer says that her favorite type of clothes depends on the occasion. When she’s going to listen to music, she bases her outfit on the genre: to listen to punk, she dresses punchy; to listen to alternatives, she dresses flowy and hippy. She sometimes dresses to what she’s knitting (which she sometimes matches with her dog, Ziggy). Otherwise, she comes up with outfits for different occasions with her friend, who owns a thrift store.
Ms. Palmer owns many types of unique accessories and clothes that are all fabulous and important to her. From all of these wonderful items, she listed two items as her favourites, which are “huge earrings” and “wool cats with false fur.” She always tries to be eco-friendly when buying clothes from thrift stores.
She also has particular key points when deciding what clothes to choose. These key points are “the clothes feel nice against the skin” and “the colors match together.” From these answers, we know that she is very passionate about fashion.
She buys these from second-hand stores to reuse clothes and protect the environment as much as possible. Some of the stores that she uses are kg shops (where people purchase clothes by the kilogram) that are located in Paris and Nagoya. She finds vintage clothes from these second-hand stores. She is strictly against fast fashion clothes. Ms. Palmer finds it difficult to find clothes that fit her size because the average Japanese clothing size doesn’t fit her. Because of this, she has to buy coats and jackets designed for men.
Fashion advice from Ms. Palmer:
Be yourself. There are no judgments in OYIS.
Winter outfits
Because it’s winter right now in Japan, we asked Ms. Palmer about her winter outfit for this year. She answered confidently that “a really good sweater is a must.” She said she always knits a matching sweater for herself and her beloved dog Ziggy every winter. Last year she made purple and yellow matching sweaters and hats. She also said that awesome boots and a shirt is also her favourite winter outfit.