Meet: ~Colette~

Hat- Banana Republic, Collar-Vintage, Shirt-Target, Skirt-Vintage,

Socks-?, Shoes- Target, Bag- Vintage

Meet Colette. It is 1955 and Colette is a 23 year-old Parisian. She was born in Paris, She's always lived in Paris, and she will die in Paris. Her mother was a dancer in a club for officers during the war. She believes her father may be American, although there is a strong possibility that he may be British, or Australian as well. Or Hungarian. Despite her mother's seemingly poor memory about her daughter's parentage, she worked very hard to save enough to send Colette to a good school. Colette received such high marks in school that she was granted a full scholarship to study Philosophy at The University of Paris. While Colette can spout Camus, Sartre, Aristotle, and Plato with the best, she prefers to sit at her favourite corner cafe sipping hot Cafe Au Lait, reading the latest issue of Paris Vogue, while her artist boyfriend Jacques sketches her profile and proclaims his undying love for her. She believes that smoking without a long cigarette holder is vulgar. Her style icons are Ingrid Bergman and Audrey Hepburn, who's film Roman Holiday she saw five times in the cinema. She loves Edith Piaf and traditional French Musette music, but has a strange love of both Benny Goodman and a newcomer Elvis Presley. When she is not reading up about the latest trends in ladies dresses for fall, or disputing the meaning of life, she enjoys reading mystery novels, particularly ones by Agatha Christie. Being from humble beginnings Colette is quite gifted as a seamstress and often makes new highly fashionable clothing from old for herself and friends- for a small fee of course. While her heart will always belong to Paris, she dreams of someday travelling to New York City and seeing all the neon lights of Times Square.

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This week has been a particularly bad one (the last two days I couldn't even muster up enough faux happiness to post anything that wasn't wallowing in self pity or some subsidiary thereof). Usually I knew things were bad by 8am, and when things are bad by 8am, you know they can only get worse. So when I saw that there was a possibility of a beautiful storm today I jumped for joy, and put on some Edith Piaf, and suddenly I was transported back fifty years. Sometimes when you're having a bad week it's nice to escape into a different person's personality. I've been thinking of doing a silly little series like this for a while and maybe once in a while introduce a new character to you. I have to do something with all this wild imagination I've got. ;-) But now the sun is beginning to shine again, and I am taking myself out and treating myself to a little shopping, sipping coffee in Borders while reading Paris Vogue, and maybe some frozen yogurt and a movie.

I will honestly try to keep this post short, but I have to tell you about this hat! I love it! Bri and Michael and I went shopping one day and we went into Banana Republic to gape at their Mad Men inspired outfits and I saw this hat worthy of my beloved Clara Bow sitting in the sale section. I checked the price. It was originally $40, marked down to $29.99, then to $14.95. I could totally justify buying a Banana Republic hat for only fifteen dollars. So I went to the register and the cashier says "Okay your total is $8.95." My jaw dropped and I said "What? I thought it was $14.95?" she shook her head. "it was, but it was marked down further." So that's how I got a $40 hat for a measly 9 bucks!

In a semi unrelated note (still keeping this short...) there is a lady who works in my office who I secretly call the hamster because she looks like a hamster (her sister who also works there looks like a crane), and she told me yesterday that she likes to think of me as a Barbie with brains. Because I always come in looking adorable but she doesn't have to dress me up. It was a very strange conversation.