A Child Who Has Grown Up

It's sunday evening & I'm attempting to Multi-Task.

I'm waiting for guests to arrive for my usual Sunday Night Dinner - my Great Pal Jenny, my step-son, Tyler & Dr. John, a v. old friend from Melbourne. I have roasted two chickens that were stuffed with lemon thyme, garlic & pine nuts. I have made my Signature Guacomole that I serve as a starter with strips of vegetables that I've noticed that no one eats, & crackers, which I've noticed that everyone eats.

It is now The Next Day & my attempts at Multi-Tasking failed. Well, actually I'm Technically Multi-Tasking again as I'm up in the school library with my Year 7 class. They are all sitting up like little Marmosets reading mainly books from The Twilight Series. Occasionally I look over at them. But mostly I type.

Today's Blog Entry is a Style Profile. If it's good enough for The Sartorialist, it's good enough for me.

My subject is called Anna. I have known her for many years & she lives next door to me. On saturday, she came over & I photographed her in my Hallway. If I was feeling Swish, I might call it My Foyer. It was Anna's suggestion that we photograph her there because she thought that her outfit would look good amongst all the trees in the Wallpaper Forest. I agree.

Anna says that she dresses like she did as a child. She spent her early years living in Paris. And on her last day there, her stylish mother took nine year-old Anna & her two sisters out shopping for Farewell Outfits. A white 'Cacherel' shirt, a Navy pleated skirt with gold buttons on either side of the waist & a navy blazer.

Ever since, that's been Anna's Dream Outfit. Perhaps not that Exact Outfit. But you get the idea.

At the time of that last Parisian shopping expedition, posters of Jane Birkin were plastered all over Paris. And Anna became mesmerized by them. She didn't know who the hell Jane Birkin was, but she knew she just loved her.

On hearing all of this, I immediately became excited. I started thinking of Jane Birkin in 'Blow Up' & all those other models in the film wearing Huge Hair & lollypop colours & Space Age Gowns, which of course is nothing like Anna's style.

And then I thought of Leslie Caron's outfits as a French Schoolgirl in 'Gigi'. They were wonderful. And perhaps slightly more Anna.

And Audrey Hepburn in 'Charade' wearing all those outfits by 'Givenchy'. That's probably slightly more Anna as well.

One of the great differences between My Style & Anna's is that she has always appreciated Classic Luxury or Quality. Like cashmere. And really classy black patent Roman sandals like the ones Jackie Kennedy Onassis wore during her Ugly Greek Shipping Magnate Period.

I never have. I've always been a Total Slave to Quantity Over Quality. Give me a whole truckload of cheap clothes anyday & I'll happily turn them into Landfill.

Until fairly recently, that is. Until I began only buying from thrift stores. But that's a whole other story.

Anna's wearing a wonderful pair of shiny black boots from 'Snotty Shoes'. You may or may not recall that it's a local shop that I occasionally photograph when it's shut. When it's open, I walk past with my nose in the air as if I don't notice that it exists.

See what I'm missing out on by Not Going Into the Shoppe? I just love that late-sixties way of spelling 'Shoppe'.

And her fab pleated dress is from 'Wheels & Doll Baby', which has been a favourite of such Rock Chicks as Debbie Harry who is another one of Anna's style influences.

I must stop now. Writing about another person who you actually know is v. tiring. I much prefer writing about myself for all the obvious reasons & writing down what you think someone has told you is hard. Say if I wasn't listening properly? I might have got it all wrong.

But before I go, I must say that I don't quite agree with Anna that she dresses as a child. I think she dresses like a child who has Grown Up.