garance doré

Girls in Australia, they take on autumn with a philosophy.  It never really does get cold anyway.  In the boutiques, sweaters mix it up with swimsuits and sandals.  They pick out a few warmer pieces from a winter wardrobe but wear them with bare legs and caramel skin.

It’s like it’s make-believe winter, just for fun or something.

I love this interseasonal mix but it totally drives me crazy: I’m so jealous!  And here I am, thinking I would come back and find springtime!

Pfff…. Take me back to my Australian autumn!

Translation : Tim Sullivan

In Sydney, I was lucky enough to have dinner next to Heidi and Sarah-Jane, the co-creators of the brand Sass & Bide.  It was a big dinner with lots of invitees, lots of courses and lots of wine.  The kind of dinner that you wonder, when you’re in the middle of applying the last coat of mascara in front of the mirror, exactly what awaits you that night

Which is to say, of course, who... I got lucky.

Sass (Sarah-Jane) and Bide (Heidi) are two vibrant woman, funny, and incredibly warm.  In three minutes I was talking about all my we were talking about everything, from fashion to food to love.

I had already strolled around their boutiques quite a bit.  I like their style.  I like the care they take with their shop windows.  In each one, they have one of their “sculptures,” skulls covered in studs and strass.  They are like miniature cabinets of wonders that catch your eye and guide you toward their strange and sensual world of style.

But what got me the most was their friendship.

A few days later, Sass&Bide celebrated the 10 year anniversary of their brand.  Their closest friends all created a piece of art (Heidi and Sarah-Jane’s is in the first photo, and you can see here, the creations of Kate Moss, Rankin, Daisy Lowe…) which was to be sold in an auction for their charitable project, the collective Shine.

Heidi started giving a speech.  Sarah-Jane next to her, smiling.  We all watched them and it got me thinking…

The creation of a project with two people, it’s a dream come true.  All the joys, the break-downs, the hardships.  I’ve always found it wonderful to work with my friends.

My mind wandered off and I thought of them.  I have a few friends with whom I could go to the edge of the world.  Who I could wake up in the middle of the night to console me, and with whom I could be cracking up laughing in even the darkest of moments, with whom I can have the most extravagant parties or we could just find ourselves simply talking.  Those who piss me off but I love them all the same.  Those who I piss off but who love me even so.  

It’s always just so good to see, a beautiful friendship.

Translation : Tim Sullivan

I’m on the plane and I have the impression that for a few hours now, we’ve been chasing twilight.  Dusk just keeps on keepin’ on, as if we’ve fooled the sun’s path.  

For my last day in Australia, I wanted to go see Jade again.  I asked her if she wanted to meet up at Tusk, seeing as I am completely capable of falling in love with wallpaper with the colors of the sunset.

That was this morning of this never-ending-day I’m still in the midst of living.  And at whatever hour it was, I arrived in Singapore, and don’t even ask me what day it is because I am so completely lost after my 18th Earl Grey.  Actually though, it’s not half-bad of a sensation.    

I miss Australia already.

The distance is good though.  It gives you the chance to take leave.  Long hours on a plane are like a secret alcove where, all alone, disconnected, you can let realty drift away for a while.  Say goodbye, collect your souvenirs, rewind your emotions, and then curl them up into a tight little ball so that they’ll always be available to you, living right there close to your heart.

Translation : Tim Sullivan

Australians, I really like their take on Grunge.

… Aaarrgh but I gotta run!  Big hugs, bonne journée!

… Aaaaah but wait, I forgot to thank you all for the adorable messages you left me for my birthday!  Okay, off we go, and yet another chance to give you all my affection!  Bonne journée!

Translation : Tim Sullivan

The only time I ever tried surfing was in California.  I had enough balls at the time to let my neophytism roar, and got right up in front of the hoard of surfers sporting tattoos to the teeth, thirsty for waves and ready to scarf down raw whatever got in their way.

Yeah.  Sizzlin’.

I got tossed off the beach by the top of my swimsuit, and had to put to rest, right then and there, all my dreams of waves, of salty romances with Keanu Reeves (Pointbreak, you remember?), of dream bodies and intensive waxing to the sunset.

And ever since, with surfers, I just like to look.  Ehem.

I had a little child-like fun at Bondi Beach.  Didn’t stick a cheek in the water, let’s not get carried away now.  I only go swimming between the 13th and the 17th of August, and only in the Mediterranean, and only during summers of scorching heat.  But the atmosphere on this beach was really cool, bright, living colors and a cosmic energy (Oh c’mon now, you’ve never felt a place had really good vibrations to it?) that was so palpable it had me running everywhere.  And seeing as I had my camera with me, it gave me a good excuse to talk with anyone and everyone, even a green bag.

You gotta understand me though.  Here I was, exploding with happiness, and this bag, he was all alone watching from afar if his master mastered well the swell. (Yeah, with that, I don’t even get what I’m talking about.)

I thought it was so cool to see a whole bunch of the surfer girls, and then, just before leaving, getting to eat a grilled John Dory looking out over the ocean.  [So yeah, here’s a thing I just don’t get.  YOU CAN’T GO GIVING PEOPLE NAMES TO EDIBLE ANIMALS (and medium rare, please).  Every bite I swallowed of my (delicious) grilled fish, I had to think of excuses to give each member of his imaginary family.  An excuse for, I don’t know, Walter Dory, another for Donald Dory for… uhhh… Garance Dory?  And then right then, a dolphin does a back flip far off and the guilt is forced back upon my entire family, minimum back upon four generations.  

SO QUICK.  Even so, it was delicious, and even if rereading my text I have to wonder what they put in their fish.

AND SO… At the end of my story of my grilled John Dory, I met Margot.

Margot is French and not only did she crack me up, “yeah, okay, you can take my picture, it’s cool, everyone is going to think i’m some international surf star and then they’ll die laughing when they see me busting my face on the first wave, but it’s all good, it’s all good!”, but on top of that, she right away gave me an invitation to a dream party where, she told me, “There will be plenty of surfers if you want to take a few photos.”

Damned!!!  I couldn’t go.  Bah, gotta believe that the waxing to the sunset just isn’t for me, back upon four generations.

Even so, in truth, surfing… I definitely have the urge to give it another go.  Who’s coming with me?

Big hugs, bonne journée!  And just one more time, sorry, John Dory.  Really though, my apologies.

Translation : Tim Sullivan

A bun done quickly on the go, a pair of bejeweled glasses, an allure sexy and relaxed: voilà exactly what I would want for my birthday!

Off we go, big hugs to you all, I’m off to go check out the surfers on Bondi Beach.

Bonne journée!

Translation : Tim Sullivan