So. I have a "studio" now, in an old, converted bakery in White River Junction. For the moment, I still teach (Zoom) from there. When people ask me what I "do," I know that they mean, what kind of art do I practice, or alternative medicine, since those are the occupations held by the majority of the tenants in the building. I sheepishly tell them that I teach French, but that is soon coming to an end. My books are in my studio, and those are supposed to inspire me to write and draw more graphic novels.
For the time being, I'm just happy to have a space in a funky building. I'm also happy to have a new old coat, acquired at yet another consignment shop that opened in WRJ. It's a men's Woolrich reversible coat. I love the enormous pockets. Why do men's coats have enormous pockets and women's coats have dainty useless ones? Ah, yes, we carry a purse. Still, in the winter it sure is handy to have a quick place to stuff one's hat and mittens, not to mention one's mask when there's a pandemic.
The day I took that photo, I also happened to be wearing pants, a sweater, and a shirt that were also bought second-hand. The boots were bought new, however, but they're old now too.
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Meanwhile, my thoughts have turned to popular TV culture and its fascination with Paris.
Two shows have been foregrounding the city on Netflix: one is great, the other, terrible. One is French, the other American. "Call my Agent" gets the city right. You can tell because it gets the clothes right. Parisian people wear jeans to work, unless they work at an investment bank. And then again, I haven't set foot in one of those in forty years.
"Emily in Paris" strikes annoyingly false notes everywhere it goes. And the clothes are all wrong. Four-inch heels on cobblestone streets? Off the shoulder dresses and blouses, slits up to here on tight fitting skirts? Absolutely not. The red beret? No comment.
"Call my Agent" -- a feminocentric, funny, well-written series about talent agents and the actors that they represent -- also gets right that Parisians wear the same clothes day after day. Rarely do American series attempt to repeat the same wardrobe on a character. Not only is it realistic, it's also more environmentally friendly. Less dry cleaning and less soap used.
