If you like: The Prince and the Dressmaker, manga, Project Runway, Luna, Felicia Day.
Because Maggie recommended The Prince and the Dressmaker, I'm going to put out there two of my own favorite comic books that have to do with clothes and metamorphosis.
Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura
Princess Jellyfish is a story about transformation. And, as the ending note says, "This is a neo princess story for the 21st century! Take it from Clara (the spotted jellyfish): as long as there's love, it's all good."
With a writer like Higashimura, there's sure to be a spin on the usual tropes from shojo manga, or Japanese comic books aimed at a female audience. Here, it's a cross-dressing hero and a heroine who needs more than a make-over.
In this neo princess story, there's a mix of exasperation and affection for being a geek, which isn't about being socially awkward. Almost every character has her or her own obsession, whether it's trains, dolls, political demonstrations or Mercedes Benz. The closest the manga comes to having a villain is a man whose detachment is a little unsettling.
The two main characters occupy different ends of the coolness scale. On one end is Tsukimi, the painfully shy unemployed artist who is obsessed with jellyfish. She hides away from the outside world in a boarding house with other women who have earned the nickname Amars (nuns).
Then there's Kuranosuke, who has money, beauty and popularity -- and he loves fashion. For Kuranosuke, it's not about being a boy or a girl, he wants to wear beautiful clothes. As the series goes on, he also wants to make them, with the help of Tsukimi.
Together, they each get past their own limited views. Kuranosuke learns for the first time to not just love clothes but to think about where they come from and what they mean to people -- and to care about someone other than himself.
The first part of the series is about the events that lead up to them starting their own clothing line, the last part is about what it takes to make a clothing line. So, there is a LOT about making clothes and running a business. Sometimes it's interesting, sometimes it bogs down the story. But the story always makes it back to what's important -- the characters and their metamorphoses.
There have been other shojo manga that deal with a cross-dressing hero (W Juliet), subverting and celebrating shojo tropes (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun) and allowing characters to grow around their idiosyncrasies instead of shedding them (Otomen). But Higashimura has a wicked sense of comedic timing and a sharp eye for what makes people tick. It grounds her modern fairy tale in a way that makes it all that more inspiring.
Word to the wise (or, in my case, the cheap) -- the Kodansha publisher cycles through some reasonable sales for their digital editions. If you want to give the series a try, keep an eye on their website. Sometimes it'll be half off, like it was in July. Also, unless you really want the extra content in the last volume, it only contains the last few chapters and it’s cheaper to buy them separately through Comixology.
"Princess Jellyfish" by Akiko Higashimura; Kodansha Comics.
Wandering Son by Takako Shimura
After the extravagant Princess Jellyfish, Wandering Son may seem low-key. It's a slice-of-life story about a boy who has a wish he tries to keep secret. But in the clean-cut art and dialogue, there's more simmering emotion.
Something as simple as wearing a headband becomes an act of bravery.
Shuichi is the new guy in school. He ends up making friends with Yoshino. Shuichi is quiet and cute while Yoshino is intimidating with her height and matter-of-factness.
By accident, they end up discovering each other's secrets -- Shuichi wants to be a girl and Yoshino wants to be a boy.
Unlike Princess Jellyfish, the cross-dressing has much bigger consequences. Shuichi has nightmares about his family calling him a freak if they find out, and he very much cares what others think about him.
But both manga use clothes as an expression. Shuichi feels more like himself in a dress, even as the thought shames him.
Here I will admit that I've only read volume one of this manga. Comic books can be expensive, but especially books published by Fantagraphics. You get a nice hardcover edition, but it's also $25 a book and no cheaper digital alternative.
I requested volume one from the library, and it's still available at Willard Library.
Shimura's warm, natural style appeals to me, but I can't tell you how it ends or if the story goes off the rails.
I'd also warn that it's going to be a crash course in Japanese culture for the uninitiated. While the emotions are universal, you'll have to read the translator's essay on gender and pronouns in Japanese, and might have to look up some things that wouldn't have to be explained to a Japanese reader, like the plot for the popular story Rose of Versailles.
There’s a comment in one of the author notes of Princess Jellyfish. She and her editors were puzzled as to why the books were selling in the United States. There is, after all, in each volume a long list explaining the cultural references that wouldn’t be obvious to American readers.
It’s the important things -- love, fear, longing, a great dress -- that need no translation.
"Wandering Son" by Takako Shimura; Fantagraphics.
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