5 Things I'd Never Do (Though I'd Like To)

1. Cut my hair really short.

I do love short hairstyle. It's boyish, it's provocative, it's sexy. But only if nature granted you with certain kind of appearance. The point is you have to be really slim, high cheekbones are required, and your face should be perfectly oval. I have always had some vague dreams about acquiring an extreme but charming hairstyle, but I invariably stick to the long straight look my hair has now (by the way, the only one approved by my boyfriend).




2. Wear skinny jeans on a daily basis.

In fact, any jeans (skinny jeans just seem more sensible to me - I want the shape of my legs to be seen and admired). Well, I adore the plain white t-shirt + blue jeans look on photographs, but I'm afraid it wouldn't work on me. Or haven't I just found the proper tee and the proper jeans?

3. Wear thick wool socks over tights.

Hélas! No way I could do it.


4. Buy only basics.

I'm trying hard. So it's not because I don't like the idea I'd never do it, it's because I'm not sure I will ever be able to limit my wardrobe to simple-and-elegant clothes. It's quite hard to find real basics. What shops suggest you is the result of some weird fantasy applied to a piece of cloth. And being extremely picky leads you nowhere.
Plus, combining basics is the easiest way. And we want challenge, don't we?



5. Wear oversized (men's) clothes.

As a normal girl of 18, I love men's clothes. I do sometimes steal things from my boyfriend's wardrobe. And I keep feeling guilty every time I do it, thinking 'Girl, it's no good to wear men's pullover with those...hm...feminine hips of yours'.
What a shame!

xx

Wishful Thinking

Les enfants de Marx et de Coca-Cola

There are two things that have formed the notion of the 60s/70 s in my mind - Jean-Luc Godard's film Masculin, féminin and Hilary Mantel's novel An Experiment in Love. This was, I reckon, the era of the young with everything mixed up: love, politics, wide use of contraception, fear of prejudice, mini-skirts, expectations.
I first watched the film completely unaware of what La Nouvelle Vague was about. So I have a pure impression of it, merely what I felt right after I've watched it. Do you remember the opening scene? Paul (Jean-Pierre Léaud) sitting in the café, watching Madeleine (Chantal Goya). And Madeleine is fascinating! Immediately I fell in love with this plain white sweater of hers that represents to me youthfulness and fragility. This film, I remember it felt like what my life is going to be: complex, nice-looking, with me staying half-indifferent to both the brilliant and the frightful things that happen. And sexually involved.
The novel is about a young girl who moves to London to study law, and faces the complications of her new life. It's all about girls, but it's not girlish, in a bad sense. No silly romance, only quiet observations. And lots of details. Everything tells a story - the collar of your coat, the rings you wear, the way you unbutton your blouse and the way you sip your coffee. That's precisely the kind of prose I like. Full of material things, not abstract. It never fails to inspire me.

P.S. As a title I used a quotation from the film (which is actually an intertitle between chapters): "This film could be called The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola".
xx

Winter plans

Cats, Women And Other Wild Things

Feminine = feline. To me, it's completely true. Lots of people talk of women resembling cats and the miraculous spiritual alliance between the two. I'm not sure about that, but the pieces of clothes that happen to have certain feline features always look very sexy and give you sublime grace. Quant à moi, I am in the habit of using cat eye makeup and wearing leopard print. And I also recently bought Mango cat eye sunglasses (like in the 50s). A friend of mine has the same, only mine are black and hers are leopard.
The idea of transforming a female's sex appeal into the animal form was used by Maison Michel in the beatuful collection of black lace headbands. They have cat ears there, too.
And do you like these fascinating illustrated cats from Chelsea Magazine?

Some funny news for you in the end: a recent report says a parasite living on cats can infect their female owners and make them sexy, desirable, fun-loving and unfaithful. Pretty flattering anyway, non?
xx