Costume Magic

Before pantyhose came along my mother wore garters. I was vaguely horrified and fascinated watching her get dressed, attaching the hardware on her thighs, like a trapeze artist circus-performer. She was preparing for a night on the town.

Her closet was a row of her millions of brown and black and beige shoes and her still- wrapped dry cleaned dresses, hanging next to my step-father's suits. He had about four pairs of brown and black leather lace-up shoes. They hid their color TV in this huge closet. A Sony Trinitron on wheels.

After a night in the city with my step father, she seemed happy and smelled good when she came in to kiss me goodnight. She wore Ma Griffe perfume which as a kid I always read as My Giraffe. Funny because we always wanted to be long-necked but my nephew is the only one blessed with one.

Ma Griffe by Carven is a Chypre Floral fragrance for women. Ma Griffe was launched in 1946. The nose behind this fragrance is Jean Carles. Top notes are aldehydes, gardenia, green notes, asafoetida, clary sage and lemon; middle notes are iris, orange blossom, orris root, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley and rose; base notes are labdanum, sandalwood, cinnamon, musk, benzoin, oakmoss, vetiver and styrax.