The Sartorialist

Where are the dreamers?      Where are the dreamers???

I wasn’t shocked by the comments regarding this photo, but I’m always surprised by how many people see the world in black or white, yes/no, or just give me the facts.

The USEFUL fashion or style information in this shot is totally irrelevant.

However, her style in this photograph totally sets the stage for the dream you can create around this image.

So sue me, I’m a dreamer!

Want to know what I see when I look at this image?

A real life Eliza Doolittle (apparently RJT and E. Lentini had the same dream).

Can’t you imagine this young girl (starving artist, i.e. a young Patti Smith in Just Kids) living in a drafty, cold-water flat, in the most dangerous neighborhood of Paris. She can’t risk catching the attention of the men in that quarter so she cocoons herself during her commute to an entry-level position at a chic but dusty antiquarian bookshop in the Palais Royal?

She carries her one nice pair of shoes in a bag to keep them from wearing out too quickly. Every morning before work she has the cheapest coffee and croissant she can find and then uses the café toilet to slip out of her warm cocoon to become the butterfly of the bookshop.

Yes, it’s a silly, overly-romantic little fantasy but it’s all I see when I take or look at a photo like this. Facts and reality mean nothing to me in a case like this or this.