I did say that the circus was coming to town and I'm fully convinced that I'm going to have to confront one of my biggest childhood fears full-on in order to proceed with my current love affair with the circus.  Yes, it's the clown.  I don't like to quote Carrie Bradshaw in a misty-eyed, fan-adoring way but the woman was right when she said 'NOTHING is scarier than a clown.'  I was especially disturbed and shitting myself when I was confronted by this jailsuited horrificly made-up clown whilst I was in Miami on Halloween last year.  I simply must get over the shock and fear though as sunaokuwahara, a very well-established Japanese brand that is part of the Issey Miyaki A-Net group has taken varying facets of clownwear and translated it all into a SS08 collection that most people will find something to take from even if like me, they have had traumatic clown-related experiences. 

There's barely noticeable, subtle clown.  Delicate nuances of clown that are extremely pretty.  Clown rating 2 out of 10. 

There's stripy clown.  So far so good.  Quite playful and conveniently crosses over with the ever-persistence of all things nautical.  Clown rating 2 out of 10.

There's giant dotty clown.  Ok, so now we're veering into dangerous territory where I'm picturing clown dressed in such dotty attire chasing after me with their squirty flowers.  The separates remind me slightly of Givenchy's SS08 collection though so I'm not entirely scared off.  Clown rating 5 out of 10. 

There's literal clown.  Yes, t-shirts with various embroidered/printed clown faces.  As cute as they are to some people, I can't quite bear it, looking down and seeing that grin staring back at me.  Though paired with the stripes in those loose layers, part of me does want to say yes.  Clown rating 8 out of 10. 

Then there's sad, serent clown.  These are what I would imagine mime artists and sadder clowns to wear.  It's mainly the multi layered neck ruffs that are making this part of sunaokuwahara's clownwear my favourite part.  The mix of textures in cream, white and black seems to reference both Victorian children's night gowns and mourning wear.  Clown rating 4 out of 10, which concludes that this is about the highest level of clown-dom that I can put myself through.  Since sunaokuwahara is a little out of my reach (geographically anyway though Humor has some stock available online...), a trip to Annie's Vintage should provide some inspiration.