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

These Boots Are Made For Walking

I love...

...le tricolore. I just love French national flag. It is symbolic, it provokes certain images, it has vertical stripes! My favourite colours are blue, cream and burgundy, that is, variations of bleu, blanc, rouge. Look, isn't it just sublime?



...coffee. All shapes and tastes. I'm not very keen on take-away coffee (I love walking with a coffee cup in hand, it's just that the coffee might not be of high quality). My greatest addiction is coffee with chocolate and mint.



...Jarvis Cocker speaking French. Haha, it's superb. When there are my two great passions - Jarvis Cocker and the French language - brought together, I just lay back and enjoy the moment!

(to be continued...)

Autumnal Mood ('I love Paris in the Rain')

Such a beautifully surprising day it's been today! In the morning it rained awfully, it was a complete déluge! The sky stayed darkish and gray till the afternoon; then the things changed dramatically (much to my delight). The day is always ok as long as it's full of coffee and sunlight. Alors, later on we got to the nearby park to take photos among the sublimely golden fallen leaves and the smooth light (it was luck to find such surroundings). The photos are, of course, amateurish (they are made by the young man on the 4th photo), but you don't have to be a professional to see how beautiful autumn is.
P.S. The line 'I love Paris in the Rain' is from a song called 'Ne Me Quitte Pas' by Regina Spektor. I kept singing it to myself all day long.
xx

Le léopard