I had an interesting experience over the winter break. I play in a taiko group (taiko = big japanese drums) and in the group is an employee of the clothing store Black Chandelier. During December, the store put on a fashion show, and our taiko group got to play at it, and I got a small dose of the world of fashion. When it came to the fashion show, there were many components to its visual rhetoric. The theme of the show was "Caspian," and it was very interesting how they managed to take this region of western Asia/fantasy novel and turn it into not just the fashion show, but a specific feel and look. Notice the promotional poster to the right. The slightly diabolical looking columns with intricate ornamentation, the girl's long, strait, bright red hair, the guy's neck tatoo and heavenward look with cool-guy sunglasses, and the dramatic pose where we can't tell if he's holding her up or she's pulling him down, all the while wearing really good clothing. It's really weird! My life isn't like this, and yet the whole grand design is kind of alluring, and I've been having a hard time thinking what this whole fashion show was supposed to convince me of, and how they went about doing it. Why were people paying $100 for front row tickets? I think part of the intrigue is the larger-than-life-osity. When someone says "models," I either think of toy trains or the most beautiful of women living the most glamorous or lifestyles. But when I got there and saw the women, I was surprised. They really weren't the most beautiful people I've ever seen, but rather, they were a lot like the people in the poster: mysterious, dramatic, hyped-up, and not like you or me. Beauty can fit into those categories, but not necessarily. I actually think that the ugly intermingling with the beautiful (interplay of opposites idea) makes people think "there's something else going on here, something bigger I can't understand." Add to the models the setting, the clothes, the makeup, the lights, the music, and (of coarse) the taiko, and you have an event. I still don't know what it all means, though.