Sitting in the costume design office of three-time Emmy Nominated Allyson Fanger was an honor. A woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go after it, Allyson doesn’t shy away from anything. She is fiercely adventurous, just ask her 3 kids how they traversed Europe week by week with her while her husband was shooting a film there. Seeing the world and being in nature, Allyson tells me, is what inspires her work.

The multicultural experience of traveling and seeing the world in all its color and textures and customs is what informs her exploration of character through costume and wardrobe. She is, simply put, a genius.

It made me think about how I want to expand that for myself. I’m not a clothes person. I wear the same sweatpants (I have three of the same pair so, I rotate) every day. I don’t pay that much attention to what I’m wearing. It’s just never been my thing. I do admire others who do. It’s such an integrative art form. So, while I don’t need or want to expand the wardrobe piece for myself, I do want to explore the textile piece. I’m such a home body. I work from home. I love my home. I have everything delivered to my home. I need to expand that for myself and for my son.

I get in my little cave of my computer and my phone and internet and I think, mistakenly, that I have everything I need. In one sense, that’s true, but in another sense, I need to have more (and different) sensory input. Less digital, more tactile!

Different textures and fabrics and pieces of nature are truly awe-inspiring and open us up to experience different parts of ourselves and each other. Think about when you’re in the woods, walking alone or with a friend or family member. The smells and textures and sounds that you experience lead you to a different part of yourself and a different level of connection with yourself or whomever you’re with. Same with the ocean. The desert. The mountains. Different urban landscapes also change how we relate to the world around us. Being a fish out of water once in a while is a great way to shake off old ideas and bad habits that aren’t serving us anymore.

So, while I hate the airport and, moreover, airport security… I’m going to decide where to go with my son this year. It might be local, in the US, it might be abroad.

I want to bring him somewhere else so that he can experience the new and different textures and cultures that aren’t available unless you go to them. Also, he and I can find new ways of relating to each other within the context of these new places.

Less digital, more tactile. Adventure is out there.

Xoxo,

Jennifer