Perfect Ten

• On July 18, 1976, Nadia Comaneci scored the first "perfect 10" in the history of Olympic gymnastics.

  

  
  

  
  

Everything French

Because of the jet lag I've almost forgotten the French National Day on 14 July, Bastille Day as it is known in the English speaking world. This is a belated celebratory post to my favourite country.


 I learned French when I was 8 years old in a (then) francophile country.  I loved the literature and cinema, and later of course ,the fashion. I used to go to the French Cultural Center in Bucharest to read Elle and dream of outfits I never could find in the drab Romanian stores. I made my tailor to copy some of the unusual patterns and got some head turning clothes (not always because people liked them but mostly because they found them outlandish).


Later I lived in Paris and got acquainted to the French cuisine. 
While I live now on another continent France is still with me. I watch TV5, eat French, speak French at home, and read a lot in French.  


As somebody else said, ..it is a moveable feast. 

and more here

Birds chirping

Greetings from rainy Bangkok. Because of the bad weather I hardly left the hotel and didn't take any picture. I will therefore post one of my favourite jackets, by |Juicy Couture, I kept in my files. I think it goes well with this (much regretted) skirt ( here) and with some imagination with this loved skirt ( here).

To buy or not to buy...

....that's the question I ask myself today. I fell in love with this J.Crew skirt.  It is not cheap and I do not really need a new skirt. The problem is: do I buy clothes because I need them? and what is "need" in our consumerist society? Shall I sing "bare necessities" together with Baloo and Mowgli or shall I indulge? Indulging gives me pleasure which is a way of fighting stress; and stress is the main cause of  health problems (in our consumerist society). Therefore...
While I am deep thinking about so many social issues I find out that my size is sold out.
Deep sigh (of relief or frustration?)

Source: Net-a-porter.

Blue ikat skirt

One of my last purchases are two ikat style maxi skirts, one blue and one red, from Old Navy. Today I wore the blue one to work, styled with a blue blazer and striped tank and bag. I love maxi skirts and I am happy that this trend is hot right now.

and


Beautiful give away for rainy days here

Cinderella's Shoes

Christian Louboutin has created new shoes for  Cinderella.

What gowns should she wear with?

Frida

On  July  6 1907  Frida Kahlo was born in Coyoacan, Mexico City.

More Mexican fashion here

Morning, midday, evening

Happy 4th of July!

The Banana Skirt

I remembered her when, by chance I found the picture of this banana skirt by Prada on the web and I knew instantly that this  was a tribute to Josephine Baker.  She came to Romania, long time ago to the Golden Stag festival . She sang in French and flirted with the public. Much later I learned that she was broke and died soon after the festival.

In the 1990s, in New York I read a biography written by an old friend of hers, who also opened a restaurant, Chez Josephine. The food was good and he greeted you with “Bonjour mes amis!”

source: tumblr

She was born  in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 3, 1906 to a washerwoman and a vaudeville drummer who left his family soon after. As a child she was sent to clean houses, or babysit for white families.

At twelve she was a street child who danced to make a living. Hired as a comic dancer she toured the United States with various bands. The stepping point in her careers  was La Revue Nègre performed in Paris. There, Josephine captivated the audience. French loved her and she became the toast of Paris overnight. In 1936  she returned home but the American audience was not ready to see a black woman successful in the showbizz and she returned to Europe, heartbroken.

She served France during World War II doing undercover work for the French Resistance. She was the first American woman to receive the  French military honor, the Croix de guerre as well as the Legion of Honor by the French Government.

In the ‘60s she adopted 12 children of different origins and reared them in her French castle. She also contributed to the Civil Rights movement in the United States supporting Martin Luther King.

I am glad she is not forgotten and that she became an inspiration for fashion and entertainment industry. 


I often listen to her song “J’ai deux amours, mon pays et Paris”

.