Response to Stephanie Hart’s Mirror Mirror.
The excerpts from Stephanie Hart’s Mirror Mirror give a glimpse at Hart’s life during her teenage years, specifically in regards to her relationship with her mother. I thought that the vignettes were engaging and I found that Hart’s perspective on her mother was very interesting. It is very apparent that her mother was extremely dedicated to fashion – doing all she can to make her daughter just as enthusiastic, much to Hart’s chagrin. Hart describes that when they were in a department store, “the air is charged with her energy”[1]. Fashion’s heavy influence on her mother’s life is revealed through Hart’s use of imagery in describing the clothes that her she wore, and their emotional effect on her mother. For example, in the chapter “Birthday Cake Dress”, Hart writes about how her mother gave her a dress that she bought for herself when she was eighteen, describing the feeling about when she put it on “thinking how beautiful [she] looked and how lonely [she] felt”[2]. The look on her face when she gave Hart the dress read: “All my love is in this dress. You must treasure it”[3], showing her emotional connection to fashion – an emotion that almost reads as though she loves clothes more than her own daughter. Overall, I think that Hart’s memoir is successful in giving a clear image of what her mother was like and what it was like for her growing up in the shadow of her mother’s love for fashion.
1. Stephanie Hart, Mirror Mirror (United States: And Then Press, 2012), 86.
2. Ibid., 102.
3. Ibid.
5 Questions:
- Did you ever become interested in fashion? If not, do you think that this was because of your mother’s overwhelming obsession?
- Why do you think your mother was so interested in fashion?
- As you got older did your relationship with your mother change?
- Did you ever feel as though your mother loved fashion more than she loved you?
- Do you think that your mother dressed for herself or for others?
