What does 形から入る mean?


What does 形から入る mean? What contexts may it be used in? I can't find the phrase
in my dictionary.

I ran across this in an anime. Transcription of the relevant parts:

> [麻]{ま}[音]{おん}の父さん 「本当にこの子は『漫画家になりたい』言うたり、『ぬいぐるみの中に入る人になりたい』言うたり、あれはいつだったかな」
>
> 麻音の母さん 「小３の時ですよ、突然…手品師になるからシルクハットとタキシードを買えって言って」
>
> 父さん 「そうだった！とりあえずこの子は[形]{かたち}から[入る]{はいる}からな」
>
> 麻音の友だち１ 「ははは…なにそれ？」
>
> 麻音の友だち２ 「夢、変わりすぎ！」
>
> 父さん 「まあ、何でもいい。自分で選んだ道だな。麻音が自分自身のなりたいものになればいい」

Translation attempt:

> 'Really, this girl used to say things such as "I want to become a mangaka",
> "I want to become someone who is inside stuffed animals"... when was that
> again?'
>
> 'When she was in third grade. She just suddenly demanded a silk hat and a
> tuxedo because she wanted to become a magician.'
>
> 'That's right. Anyway, she **???** '
>
> '[laughter] What on earth?'
>
> 'Your dreams [of future] are too strange!'
>
> 'Well, anything works for us, if it's a path she's taken by herself. She may
> become anything she wants to.'




Good question. The phrase would drive me up the wall if I were a Japanese
learner, too.

「[形]{かたち}」 here means "appearance". What that ultimately means is " **
_outfit_** ".

「[入]{はい}る」 here means "to start (learning something new)".

I am sure small bilingual dictionaries could be useless with these two in this
particular context.

> 「形から入る」 means "Someone (always) starts with the outfit (when taking interest
> in a new field)."

Fashion over practical training, sorta.

