What I Wore This Week
Everyday, Part II: Spring Attitude Adjustment
A change of season, even in the right direction, can throw off even the most assured of dressers.
In fact, it can throw off all sorts of things. My skin, for one. The kids’ sleep routines, definitely another. And, as we sprung forward the other day, apparently an entire mom-gang WhatsApp group, which, normally devoted to playdate organisation, was flooded with questions about appropriate footwear for the moment.
Oh and the global trade war that started Wednesday could throw a few things off too, but you’ll have to suspend disbelief this time, as I planned this piece last Sunday in the last flailing twilight of globalisation.
Anyway, spring! Spring, which often arrives suddenly in Paris, was true to form this week. While the sun and warm breeze are a mercy, it is true that the question of what to don, especially in the footwear department, and especially when attempting to do something vaguely professional, can be a complicated one. Is an open-toed shoe allowed yet? Is it worth risking freezing feet before noon, or after sunset anyway? What can one wear that looks “estivale” but reasonable? Is there a dignified alternative to floral tea-dresses and twenty-something sneaker trends? (I still wear these sometimes, but you get me). Do we need to rush to the nail salon and waxing parlour already (that’s going to be a whole afternoon gone, for me.)
Also: how does one smarten up a bit of denim for work meetings when a nice knit and wool jacket combo are off the menu on account of afternoon chaleur? Simple questions, with relatively complex answers, mostly involving the kind of layering that would make an onion blush. I don’t necessarily have them, but I do have photo-documentation of everything I wore this week. Humour me.
Monday
The forecast is suddenly promising a full ten-day flush of sun but it’s still chilly today with a bit of an icy breeze blowing through the AM. Yet it premisses to be 17 degrees and by afternoon. I’ve a meeting with a brand, then home to write, then a collection presentation. Layering (the comfortable kind) is the only option. I want to walk everywhere, I’m high on Vitamin D and I’ll be damned if I go underground to the metro. The loafers and bag are on practical fun duty.
Tuesday
This morning I must stay in the zone and finish the article I started yesterday before switching hats and heading to pick my son up from pre-school, then hand him off (wistfully!) and head straight to a business lunch on a terrace. The temperature has warmed up slightly and it’s time to GASP free the ankles. Haven’t done so in Paris since October and the experience is very liberating. The key to a flattering cropped jean is a higher waist, as Veronica Beard has mastered here. Yes, I did get a leg wax are you not impressed.
Wednesday
OK so today is very important in two ways: I am meeting someone I’ve been looking forward to meeting for a very long time (on a business but also personal level) and two, it’s just warm enough to slip into a culotte. Or a short. Whatever these are — ask my new favourite workwear genius Loulou de Saison aka Chloe Harrouche. As she proves here, Spring dressing doesn’t have to be colourful. We are in Paris after all. This jacket is super lightweight and I’m wearing it against my skin. I guess it’s something between a shirt and a jacket (shacket? but the chic kind.)
Plus I feel Patricia makes coffee nervous would approve.
Thursday
Colour is fun though. Especially with great denim because any colour goes with blue jeans (right?) Today I have a wild day of interviewing a niche famous vintage collector for another piece I’m writing, then shape shifting into Martha Stewart and running to buy a dinner for eight we’re hosting at home tonight. Marc offered to just get a pre-made lasagna from our local Italian traiteur but I was like no way Marco Polo, if you have people over you cook them dinner otherwise why would we not just go to a restaurant?? (Discuss.) Anyway, I just about managed Jamie Oliver’s slow cooked Moroccan lamb dish (only a bit dry), without even staining my outfit, which I kept on for dinner.
I should mention these are the most comfortable lightweight jeans I’ve ever had the good fortune to anxiously peer into an oven forty times in.
Friday yay.
I had originally wanted the longer version of this Doen dress but it was sold out. Now, I’m thrilled I wound up with the shorter one because despite my glaring lack of leg tan, the warm air on one’s pins feels absolutely delicious AND it’s fun to play with proportions.
Oh, and I think I wore this exact dress to a fabled and eccentric event called “Sail Past” with my grandparents on a boat circa. 1993. Photo evidence to follow.
Until then, have a lovely weekend spring chickens!
Oof love these outfits, please keep doing these! You're so damn chic
I’m a big believer in the fact that you can entertain at your home with catered/takeout food. The big thing, the important thing, is actually inviting people into your home, your personal sanctuary. It’s a real choice to do such a thing, and it is a honor for a guest to be invited into someone’s personal space to be treated to an experience of shared food, drink, and connection. It’s very different from and much more special than inviting people to eat in a restaurant (which is also lovely and special, don’t get me wrong, but not same-same). Don’t be afraid to let Marc get the takeout lasagna one of these days!