LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Afew days ago, I was swimming into a radiant sunbeam that created an orange shimmering line along the top of the pool. I was staying at the Pathumwan Princess in Bangkok, and at that moment I felt royally lucky. It was early, and the sun was just wending its way through the skyscrapers in the distance. The hotel is located in Pathum Wan, which is one of 50 districts in Bangkok. Its name comes from two nearby Buddhist temples: Wat Pathum Wanaram, which means “lotus forest temple,” and Sra Pathum Palace, which means “lotus pond palace.” In Buddhism, the lotus flower is associated with purity, spiritual awakening and faithfulness. It’s considered pure as it emerges each morning from muddy water looking pristine and clean. That morning swim—as well as the pink lotus flower petals I had been folding the day before at the Golden Mount temple—reminded me of the theme for this month’s issue. It’s about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. The idea came from comments that Pierpaolo Piccioli made about his Spring 2018 collection for Valentino. During a preview, he said he was inspired by a photograph that astronaut William Alison Anders took of earth from the moon. He told WWD the picture inspired him to view the familiar from a fresh perspective. It was about taking something familiar and “thus turning it extraordinary,” wrote Bridget Foley. It was the same sentiment at Sacai: Creative director Chitose Abe telegraphed the message in a T-shirt that says “Beware (It’s) Everywhere.” As Tim Blanks wrote in his review for Business of Fashion, the Japanese designer was reminding us that “you don’t need to go to the ends of the earth to find inspiration. Everything is right here, in front of you.” OK, I was in Bangkok—which isn’t the end of the earth—but the point is that I could easily have missed that moment of serene beauty in the pool. We often fail to appreciate what we consider familiar or ordinary. What could be more ordinary than a bathing cap, a razor and dental floss? Yet in “Shelf Life,” on page 64, beauty director Lesa Hannah discovers how these everyday items have been reimagined in a rather extraordinary fashion. In “Craftwork” (page 40), writer Caitlin Agnew explores the growing affection for low-fi crafts—the ones we create and the ones we purchase. Agnew says that the allure is, in part, the “magic of human touch—a tension transferred from our hands when we make something with love.” And, speaking of love, there are several stories in this issue that explore when and whether one might want to become a mother. In “Mother, May I?” (page 82), Kerri Sakamoto opens with the observation that May is for mothers—and for daughters who miss their mothers. (I’m in that camp.) Sakamoto tenderly captures the influence these women have on our lives. Her mother was a seamstress who “lifted up her sisters, daughters and herself by transforming a length of cloth into a hopeful dream for a more elegant and dignified life.” Talk about appreciating the extraordinary in the ordinary—in terms of both the power of fashion and the immense love that goes into the making of it.