It’s been quite a week. We moved into our new home in Maryland on Wednesday – a hot and humid day. We’re busily nesting, but boy, are we tired! Here’s a photo of my husband, flopped out on the floor, with the cat occupying his chest. I had an email from the people we bought from, and they were in the same state of exhaustion. The gentleman said that this was his last move. He told his wife that he was going “to skip an old-folks’ home and go straight to the grave.” Déménager (day-men-ay-shjay) means “to move.” I hope we’ll be here for a while as moving is hard work!
When you’re relocating to a new area, finding a place that is familiar is a comforting treat. We’re moving to a suburb of Washington DC to be closer to our daughter who lives near Logan Circle. Literally right around the corner from her is 
I’ve read a few books lately that I haven’t liked very much at all – even one by a Big-Name French author that left me utterly indifferent. By contrast, when I read 
The story is a series of letters from Oscar, a little boy with leukemia, to God. Oscar is not religious, but a hospital volunteer, whom Oscar calls 
When I saw the fabulous 
For the last decade, I’ve had a summer job in the heart of Paris. This year, of course, is different. I miss Paris as I would an old friend. Reading 
Sciolino figuratively walks the reader up the street, and I followed along, checking out each address on Google’s Street View. Yes, indeed, there is her cheese shop, and here’s where she likes to go for coffee. Yes, the vintage advertising murals really are there. Here is the fabulous designer second-hand boutique where she shopped for bargains with Arianna Huffington. We finish our journey at the restaurant where Sciolino threw a party to celebrate the people and street that she loves.
When I was a pre-teen, I fell in love with Anne of Green Gables and her quest for kindred spirits. When I read 
Madeleine Vionnet was born on June 22, 1876. She trained with London dressmaker Kate Reily, and French designers Jacques Doucet, and Callot Sœurs before opening her own fashion house in 1912. She was forced to close her business only two years later, due to the outbreak of war, and did not re-open until 1923. At this point, she took over new premises on the Avenue Montaigne and opened her salon, which would become affectionately known as the Temple of Fashion.
Vionnet became one of the most influential and respected designers of the interwar period and is still cited today by many designers as one of the most significant couturiers in history. Favoring a clear house vision over the latest fashion, Vionnet became known in her early years for her clean, curving lines inspired by Grecian costume, and in the 1920s, as the “queen of the bias cut.” Her designs eschewed corsetry, padding, stiffening, and tailoring that distorted the female body. Instead, she used draping and bias cutting to enhance a woman’s shape.
Modern dance influenced her soft, flowing Grecian-style dresses. In particular, Vionnet was impressed by the avant-garde ballerina Isadora Duncan, whose dance costumes floated freely around her body and were worn – rather scandalously – without a corset. Vionnet greatly admired Duncan’s experimental performance style. While at Doucet, she made models show off the house’s designs barefoot, just as Duncan performed – although this was still considered too avant-garde by both Doucet and his customers.
Upon re-opening her own house in 1923, Vionnet could fully express her vision of femininity, and she found immediate fame and success. By 1925, she opened on Fifth Avenue in New York, where she sold ready-made creations that she adapted to the customer. Her unique vision combined with her exquisite and meticulous cut earned her the accolade of “The architect among dressmakers.” Her deceptively simple styles involved a lengthy process of cutting, draping and pinning — a process Vionnet executed on miniature dolls so that she was able to perfect the fall of the fabric.
The summer brings so many occasions for which one needs a little present – graduations, hostess gifts, and there are always birthdays. I have a recommendation for the francophile on your list, the charming book Top Pages Today
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