Winter Red in Summer
Beach Red
Reading about winter clothes in Vogue, in the depths of a Midwest summer, has presented me with a challenge. It turns out I’m supposed to wear red this winter and love it. Oh, and by winter, Vogue means this fall. Just so I’m clear.
This fall I’ll be in Paris. In Paris, as all us American tourists have emblazoned on our brains like permanent dye, one wears black. Not red. Just ask me about the time I got caught wearing my red Beijing baseball cap in Pere Lachaise cemetery.
I do love to cater to Vogue. It makes them feel needed. It’s good for a fashion magazine to feel needed. But I don’t know. Maybe my good intentions are wearing thin. Because about this red thing? I also don’t like to wear red.
I wasn’t always opposed to wearing red. I had a gorgeous red winter coat when I was a teenager living in Brussels. I wore it everywhere, including Paris. I wore it with a bowl shaped furry turquoise blue hat. Don’t ask.
Candlelight St Germain des Pres
But so, pondering red this hot summer morning surrounded by green fields, in the Midwest, I’m thinking of convincing myself this red thing is a karmically generated dilemma. That wearing red just might add zest to my life. Not that I thought I needed anymore zest, but what do I know, right? I love wearing red lipstick, and thought it was plenty enough color on my face, but my friends are always telling me it’s time to start wearing eye make-up.
Could I get away with a red scarf? Just to break myself in easily? I could wear that red scarf anywhere, even in Paris. Even in CA where I live most of the time. Even inside, right now, where the air conditioning is on to combat the humidity, and feels so chilly a red scarf would be just right.
Vogue is also yapping about god awful florals and eye-crossing geometric prints for this winter. Well, I can’t even begin to see a big floral prancing up the Champs Elysees–
Loyalty and kindness has its limits. I think the time has come for me to exhibit a little Tough Love. Vogue will have to go it alone where the florals and geometric prints are concerned.
