He Fa on the Woodgrain-Skirt Architect

Honey-yellow and caramel-brown woodgrain spread down an A-line skirt. A broad fold turns out at the front, while a cream square-neck top and sea-blue shoes make it unmistakably an outfit. This skirt is cloth printed with woodgrain: its folds remain visible; it has not become a plank. I want to begin with that distinction. When one material’s appearance is worn by another, what does it actually take along?

Woodgrain evokes solidity, thickness or construction, but cloth can fold, be sewn and move with the body. When they meet on one surface, sensation and function briefly fall out of alignment. Expecting the skirt to do the work of a wooden component because it looks like wood mistakes a metaphor for a performance specification. Dismissing the grain as meaningless merely because the cloth bends would also miss the pleasure of this translation.

The turned-out fold makes the difference public. It allows the pattern to leave the plane and shows that this surface can rise away from the body into a curve. I would make a simple demand of this fictional architect: when expressing a material, still explain what actually provides support, makes connections and touches the body. A handsome skin cannot guarantee the structure beneath.

Clothing need not always resemble an engineering report. Feeling can precede analysis; woodgrain may simply make someone look a little longer. The moment I ask for an explanation is when someone begins making practical judgements on the basis of the appearance. Poetry need not first submit every parameter, but practical use cannot be verified by poetry alone. Each has its own conditions of entry.

I let the dark-brown belt secure the skirt and the sea-blue shoes keep showing beneath the grain. They need not all join the metaphor of wood; their difference lets this body retain several working relationships. A material can gain new shapes when it changes its home. I am willing to carry its grain, while leaving untested promises of load-bearing outside this outfit.