Elsa the mechanic

My friend Elsa who is living in LA this summer: vintage car (well, used) and the little white purse she purchased at a vintage store in Lyon. I hope she doesn't accidentally splatter car grease all over it!

The House of Eliott

       My husband has introduced me to a BBC series from the 1990s entitled "The House of Eliott." I am hooked. A bit too sentimental at times, this series does capture very nicely an era -- the 1920s -- during which women entered the workplace and played a larger role in the general economy. I especially appreciate the scenes showing women's work relationships, from their extreme cattiness to a more sisterly approach.

       Of course, the owners of the business are literally sisters. And in its slightly feminocentric way, we see the whole patriarchal establishment cut to pieces. The portrayal of the banker as figure of manipulation and corruption, the force behind the entire enterprise, is right on.

       One also gains an appreciation for all the work that goes into making an item of clothing, from the design, to the cutting of the fabric, the sewing, the decorating (beading was very big in those days), the fitting, the refitting. Clearly, those were the days when a woman spent as much time preparing the garment and preparing for the garment than actually wearing it. For those of us who love clothes, this show is for us: the clothes, the accessories, the jewelry, the fabrics, the hairstyles.

      I noticed that recent collar styles, like this sweater that I bought at the Gap (the dress is from a consignment shop in Paris) must be borrowing from that era. I am borrowing the baby from a Dutch relative.

But what I have also loved in this series is the language. I love the way the characters address touchy subjects very carefully. The use of the pause, or silence, when it is best not to say anything. The beginnings of sentences that cushion the blow of the latter part of the sentence. Here are some examples:

"Forgive me but..."
"I'm afraid that..."
"I hope that"
 "I hope that..." can "cushion" more when you add "you won't mind that..." as in "I hope you won't mind that..."
"I'm sorry that..."
"I suppose that ..."
 It also makes an impression when you use multiple syllable words that allow you to accentuate a syllable and slow down your delivery. Words like "disgraceful," "unpleasantness," "intransigent," "unsuitable," and my favorite, "subterfuge."
 And if all else fails, give that cognac glass a double bing with your fingers.

Nostalgia

Home for the summer, looking at a lot of books that have to do with Paris from around 1850 (the time of Baudelaire), 1900-1930 (the time of the Montparnasse avant-garde) and the 1960s and 70s (the time of revolt against capitalism), I came across a photo of a Marion Cotillard look alike from another era. The women in the photo are Dutch sisters who came to Paris to be a part of the artistic and literary movements that were going on in and around the neighborhood of Montparnasse. I was not only struck by one of the sister's resemblance to Cotillard, but by her lovely outfit.


Pleated skirts are back, and I did indulge at American Apparel in New York last weekend where I purchased a mid-length orange one.
(Photo from American Apparel's web site)
 




I've also been looking at my old pile of French fashion magazines that I have accumulated and kept from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. I'm always looking back at them, for a variety of reasons, including the fact that I was young back then, and the women in the magazines corresponded more or less to me in terms of age.

I dislike their contemporary transformations, perhaps because I've aged and the women in the magazines have not, but also because these magazines are really out of touch with women, certainly more so than they were twenty years ago. Aside from the bright monochromatic blues and yellows that I really never liked... ... and the style of cars ...  
...the fashions from this June 1988 issue of Marie-Claire are not all that different from today's styles. If anything, they've come back. Like the high waisted shorts and the little sneakers worn with ankle socks.

The current love for all things vintage has to do with nostalgia. Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing, as it reflects an inability to live in the present and a preference for living in the past. But what if one is nostalgic for an avant-garde of the past? Is that still dangerous as in reactionary and conservative, or is one simply yearning for a time when people were experimenting in a more authentic, direct and difficult way? The men and women of Montparnasse look good in the photos of the book I'm reading, and the text does embellish if not idealize an almost utopian community that thrived until the depression and the war put a final end to all that partying.


Many of the artists and writers who were part of that avant-garde died young from all kinds of horrific illnesses and diseases, they partied hard, they had multiple sexual partners, they lived in under heated places and had very little money with a few exceptions. I do hope though, that a movie will come out, better than Woody Allen's, so it's not asking a lot, with Marion Cotillard playing that Dutch woman who modeled for Paul Poiret. A movie about the way Montparnasse really was. And how I wish it still could be.

Family time

A few odds and ends to keep the blog moving along. I gave Rosalie the sweater I had bought at Groucho in Toulouse (after having parted with my winter things but realized that it was going to be a cold spring). It's a Breton fisherman's sweater, the real thing, I hope, I guess. At least that's what it says on the label.



What is real? Do we search for the authentic in these vintage stores? Does the label tell the truth about its origins?







 Rather than go off on a metaphysical musing, I will simply recommend another blog I stumbled across via the beautiful Sally Jane Vintage blog. Within the comments on Sally Jane's Camden Market post, I found this link: http://www.rosaspinavintage.com/

 I especially liked this photo: I too love wearing socks with shoes and sandals,along with a skirt or a dress, even if it looks less elegant than the bare foot with nicely neatly painted toes.

Meanwhile Sally Jane's high waisted shorts

http://sallyjanevintage.blogspot.com/ remind me of this vision of a young woman my husband and I crossed during our hike in the Pyrenees. 

She was wearing beige high waisted shorts, a short waisted cashmere sweater and a 1920s flapper style hat. I thought she was the coolest, most elegant hiker I had ever seen. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of her. Just the memory. 

Nelleke!

Nelleke is my Dutch bohemian artist sister-in-law, living in a huge old school building in the center of The Hague, which she and a group of other bohemians have fixed up over the years. She buys her clothes almost exclusively at thrift shops, and with her artist's eye, really knows how to pull together unique and original outfits.





The Dutch are not afraid of color, if anything the more the

 better.

Because they get around mostly on bicycle, they tend to dress funkily but comfortably.

Home!

I am back home in Cornish, New Hampshire after being away for five months. The first challenge was putting away clothes from two suitcases. Some of them I put directly into the "Paris" pile, the ones that I plan to wear there and only there, because here, they're just a little too odd and a little too fancy. The next step was switching seasons inside the bedroom closet. All these clothes moving around made me a little nauseous. I have too many clothes. I know. The next step: another purge, another trip to the Listen center and to Revolution.

Time to pack and go home.                                                                                                                    My suitcase contains some new (old) (used) garments.

A Groucho vintage dress and a Côtélac find at Rebelote were my last acquisitions. I look forward to wearing them in Paris this fall, as the nomadic prof keeps traveling.











 Meanwhile, Clara sends me a link to a young woman's Quebec blog, alagarconniere.wordpress.com, that is well worth reading, a younger version of me, an older version of Clara? She will provide the bridge between the old world and the new. I love her headline: knowledge, power and “feminist” fashion blogs...

Let's face it, young women pull off the vintage look better than the older crowd. Of course, that's absurd. Older women wear their old clothes just fine. It's all the same in the end. Wear what you want, so long as it feels right.