Dress, Appropriately

Dress, Appropriately is a dress store in Kyoto on the planet Yamatai. It is owned and operated by a widow, Mary Fabulous.

The dress shop was a small affair. Owned by a widow, it was a narrow, two-story flat converted into a business. There was one large picture window with two mannequins standing behind it. One displayed a simple, svelte red affair that appeared to be made of silk; it caught the light reflecting off the concrete. The other wore a winter dress, the heavy but soft-looking wool a traditional brown color that went with a pair of sturdy, faux-fur-lined leather boots. It was meant to be worn with a thicker blouse; the top of the dress left everything to the imagination and had overall-like shoulder-straps.

Above the picture window was a cool blue argon sign, written in a fancy cursive, that read —

Dress, Appropriately

The first floor always was owned by the shop owner, but the second floor used to be the living space for the couple. After the husband died, the owner ceded some of the space for a wedding dress presentation area.

The main floor of the shop was perhaps 8 meters wide, but it stretched back for perhaps three dozen. Instead of spinning circular racks, some dresses lined the walls, put on hangers clinging to gold hooks. The rest of the dresses formed a column along a single gold rack that went almost the entire length of the store that the customer could see. On the right side wall, the front of which had the owner sitting at her counter, was lined with wooden cubbyholes each about 40 centimeters square, lined with gold felt. The cubbyholes were stacked three high; on top were footwear pairings for the dress.

Some of the cubbyholes had fabric choices; others had blouses meant to match certain dresses in the store. At the very back was a worktable that doubled as a presentation space; beyond that, there was a room.

No one was inside the store. The first half of the week usually was slow.

The owner herself was named Mary Fabulous. She looked it — always wearing one of her own dresses, today a winter number like that of the mannequin except burgandy; dangling earrings of gold that ended with clumps of little pearls and a matching pearl necklace; and comfortable, wool-lined moccasins. Her aged blond hair was cut short in a trendy style around her ears, but with no bangs; her hazel eyes twinkled when she smiled. Her dark brown skin was creased in places, yet looked smooth to the touch. Her only makeup was a dash of pale lipstick and some light eyeshadow to bring out the hazel of her eyes.

Article by Doshii Jun.

Art added by Wes. The image is an AI creation Wes made with Midjourney under their commercial license plan.