Paisley Park

Why can't more things be paisley? It seems like it would be very easy to make a fresh and modern paisley — not just the colors, but the shapes. A smooth, sprightly, whimsical paisley — can't Jonathan Adler do something with that? I wouldn't buy it if he did — I'm not in the market for $68 coasters, no matter how cool they look — but maybe he (we? call me, Jonny) could spark a paisley renaissance.

Shady Lane

Shady Lane evokes a vague sense memory for me. Every time I wear it, I flash back to a mystery time when I was riding in the back of a pickup truck, feeling the sun on my face and arms. 

Filthy Martini

When I bought Filthy Martini, it was a huge shapeless dress with long sleeves and cuffs. Now it looks like this:

It's a pretty good argument for getting things tailored when you need to. Filthy Martini cost $12 in (probably?) 2002, it probably cost about $30 to get it tailored, and I've worn it about a billion times since then (one hundred million times a year), so the amortization on that works out to $0.000000042 per wear. Definitely worth it.

O Modaction

After the Parisian misadventure described in Earthly Delights, I did another study abroad program there, for my MA. I don't really remember any details about any of the classes I took (though I did have one professor who could, if you read him a line from Madame Bovary, recite the rest of the page from memory), but I do remember going to lots and lots of mod parties. And I wore a dedicated dress.

Earthly Delights

When I was doing my undergrad study abroad program in France, we were encouraged to take classes within the Parisian university system. This was at first thrilling (real classes! with real French people!), then terrifying (I once snapped out of a daydream when I heard the professor say, "Well, let's ask the American. Are they?" I said, "Excuse me?" He elaborated, "Are executions public in the United States?"), then, oddly, a sign of just how much we were being coddled (our French grades were translated, and by that I mean inflated, into their American equivalents).

Funny how the same facial expression can convey excitement, horrified amusement and disbelief at how determined private colleges are to give everyone A's.