Poupée de cire

"Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gall

FOTC's "Foux Da Fa Fa" led me on a search to discover what exactly Scopitones were. And that opened a treasure box full of wonderful old gems, little 3-minute musical time capsules. I absolutely adore when this happens. There's something about vintage and oldies and history that makes me happy. Since TCM's Oscar Month, I've been addicted to that channel. Everytime I heard that piano music they played with the montage of Oscar film clips, I got emotional. But admit it: so did you. And when I'm in Los Angeles, my radio happily nestles down at K-EARTH 101.



"Pourquoi pas moi" by Mareva Galanter

I went onto YouTube for more Scopitones and found Mareva Galanter's Scopitone-inspired music videos. It was her version of Laisse tomber les filles that got me thinking "I've heard this song before... and I like it!" But who sang the original? And that's when I found France Gall. I've heard of Françoise Hardy. I've seen the word "Yé-yé" thrown around, but never really took the time to figure out what it was. I've even listened to a few Serge Gainsbourg tunes. But what really inspired me to figure the whole thing out was Gall's off-kilter, captivating voice and her look: youthful innocence and that blonde bob.



"Baby Pop" by France Gall



"Laisse tomber les filles" by France Gall

Oh, how I love the Internet. One things leads to another... it's instant gratification.

Où est J. Crew?

I love to speak French. Mais je parle un peu français. Très peu. And having only taken one class of French, my impressive vocabulary can be summed up in this video:



"Foux Da Fa Fa" by Flight of the Conchords

which apparently is enough to pick up French chicks, go shopping at the supermarket, and tandem-bike in the park. Besides being completely enamored by Bret and Jemaine, I also love the color-happy 1960's costumes



which I felt could be recreated with J. Crew's menswear. Here we go...



Solid vintage oxford shirt in grapefruit
Secret wash button-down shirt in microstripe in light dahliah



Secret Wash white-collar shirt in banker stripe in oxford pink
Cotton-cashmere crewneck sweater in provencial blue
Broken-in chino sneakers in ivory



Thacher-stripe ribbed cardigan
Vintage slim fit garment-dyed denim

I may have cheated in that last one... but that umbrella was just too cute! Its from girl's Crewcuts.

Stopped by J. Crew today...

and finally got the Elizabeth halter top in white, but its made from a cotton and silk blend rather than all silk! So its machine washable, which is great because what stopped me from getting it earlier was having to dry clean it. I can't find a link for it on the website, so I guess its from their new collection. I'm already thinking of all the ways I could wear it:

1) with the Market tee or any other crewneck tee like this photo:


2) tucked into a pencil skirt like this photo:


3) this looks pretty cute too

with shorts or fitted pants like skinnies or straights - and dark denim

4) a thicker sweater, with a crewneck neckline, or maybe a printed cardigan

Can't wait!

Surfing

I've recently taken up surfing. It's exhilarating, frightening, euphoric (the first stage of hypothermia). My friend and I were so excited to try out our newly acquired surfing skills at the local beach, that we rushed into buying wetsuits at the local store so we could catch the morning waves. Not having our sizes in the instructor-recommended 3/2 wetsuits, the salesperson suggested the springsuit. This was a bad idea - after spending two hours in the ocean, my fingers were numb and I was shivering a lot (which Wikipedia tells me is the first stage of hypothermia. I love Wikipeida.). Worst yet - non-returnable.

Lesson learned. Bought a 3/2 wetsuit (at a different store). And some cute Roxy rubber flip-flops (might as well look good eating sand).