Author Anna Smaill Looks in the Mirror

Featuring in The Guardian’s regular column, ‘A Moment That Changed Me’, is New Zealand author Anna Smaill, 44, who describes how she fell in love with clothes.

“When I was growing up in Auckland in the 1980s, my relationship with clothing was all about utility. Clothes needed to be comfortable and keep me at the right temperature,” Smaill writes.

“I particularly hated getting dressed up. If it was unavoidable, I would dodge mirrors.

“The awkward relationship with clothes continued well into my 20s. Until I arrived in Tokyo aged 25. Jetlagged and overwhelmed, holding a thin envelope of unfamiliar money in my hand, I walked into a department store.

“The world opened up. I stopped avoiding my own reflection.”

Smaill is the author of the 2023 Bird Life. Her first novel, The Chimes, was published in 2015 and was longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize.

Original article by Anna Smaill, The Guardian, November 29, 2023.

Photo by Ebony Lamb.