French Tickler

Here's a postcard I found at a great little restaurant in Paris (called Le Loup Blanc, and I heartily recommend it, we had a really fantastic meal there). The bathroom, which like the rest of the joint was beautifully decorated in an extremely inventive manner, had a rack of postcards for various parties and events and this was one of them.



Now, this is in French and it seems to be in extremely colloquial French to boot, but near as I can figure from the info on the back (Denyse? Wanna help me out here?), it's advertising a party thrown by an organization who does that sort of thing. Whatever it is, when I saw the poster I let out a huge peal of laughter (which must have struck the Parisian denizens dining outside the door as extremely odd, but no doubt they chalked it up to my American-ness) and was very pleased to see there were postcards for the taking.

So what does this image have to do with style & fashion, besides the obvious fact that it's a satire of Karl Lagerfeld? It's this: style is important. But there is a runway-model-thin line between a recognizable personal style and becoming a parody of yourself. Find the things that work for you, stick with them, buy the best versions of them that you can afford (even if that means you only get one instead of three), and wear them with your head high.

But. Don't refuse to mix it up a little. Try new things. Every now and again, put on a dress that when you look at it you say, "Oh, that's sooooo not me." Its good for you. It clears the head and the palate. And you never know, there may be a different you lurking in there that you didn't know about.

Side note to M. Lagerfeld: Dahling, I love you. But you're getting too old & thin to support the weight of all that Chrome Hearts jewelry. And those French Romantic poet shirt collars are starting to get a little Paduang neck ring. Seriously, how about a nice tweed Aquascutum jacket and a pair of tasteful enamel fleur-de-lys cufflinks? Call me. We'll talk.

Photo: www.follivores.com