Move Over Clone

Posted by Jules Ritter on May 29th, 2008

 

I am walking along the cobbled streets in Geneva old town when I see it – Great Spirits.  More of an Ali Baba’s cave of sparkly, hippy, kaftan-style tops and dresses in vibrant colours than a shop but with CLONE!! CLONE!! still ringing in my ears (see comments on posting Inspector Clouseau) and a friend of mine telling me that when people can’t remember my name they say “you know, the one who wears a lot of beige“ (ouch!) IN I GO.

I’ve been thinking a lot about image because I was recently invited to a talk by Myriam Hoffman see  http://www.premiere-impression.com/ Myriam is a French, Geneva based image consultant (works in French and English) and loves colour.  Next month as part of the Platinum Programme we are all attending a one day personal styling/presence workshop which includes verbal and non-verbal communication, given by Pippa Rees of Naked Ambition.  I found these startling statements on Pippa’s site: http://www.stylecompany.co.uk/about.php                            

  • Women who wear make-up can earn 25% more than those who don’t. There are women who don’t wear make-up?
  • 85% of employers put image in their top 3 criteria during the interview process.  Sadly this one doesn’t surprise me but do they mean image or looks?
  • 85% of chief executives are over 5’11”.  Not in China.
  • Small men earn less.  No wonder there are so many Napoleon complexes around.
  • Without your jacket, you lose your status.  And Your Car Keys.
  • Successful women have shoulder length hair.  From Boardroom to Bedroom?
  • Approachability leads to more success than aggression.  This one must be for men only ALL women inherently know this.
  • Employers decide whether they want to recruit you within 10 seconds of seeing you. Jeeze.

Back to me in the shop and as you are probably guessing, it ain’t easy.  I am attired almost entirely  in….beige.  Beige trousers, a dark blue polo-style shirt (quand même) and beige ballerinas.  In my oversized white bag is a large woollen shawl in…..bloody beige.  Something has to be done about my beige existance.  I try to look cool and funky as if I own a whole wardrobe of sparkly kaftans and a house full of wind chimes.  The lovely lithe asian owner dressed in ripped flared jeans, orange kaftan and mountainous wedges is kind but I sense a little puzzled, I’m not her average customer –  we do not have a compatible molecular structure.  Anyway, I browse and I want to buy, I really do but it’s hard to go from the fitted to the floaty, from the plain to the sparkly, from neutrals to colour.  There’s a huge amount of psychology involved and a lifetime of safe, classical dressing to undo. 

Determined not to leave empty handed, I do buy one thing: A fitted cotton dark blue jacket made by the label Pure, handstitched in Kathmandu at a bargain price.  It looks very ME from the front: Short; tailored; safe; sensible.  Then I turn around and hey presto there is a red and pink embroidered flower motif on the back.

So I haven’t gone the whole way, at the moment I’m a hybrid old me/new me.  I’m on step one of the 12 step programme.  The jacket sits in my wardrobe amongst the beige, taupe, ecru, white and black looking smug for now.  I have high hopes for this jacket, very high hopes indeed.   I just don’t know if I will ever have the life to wear it or the wow factor to pull it off but perhaps I have that the wrong way round.

Great Spirit, Grand Rue 15, Genève.

Copyright Jules Ritter May 2008

 

 

Living in Switzerland 17 Comments

John Norris said,

May 30, 2008 @ 1:34 am

Beige

The question that occurs to me is “Why did you stop liking beige?”

I mean, I doubt you bought all those beige clothes because you didn’t like the colour. The photos on your blog page show it goes well with your complexion. The other colours you mention in your wardrobe suggest that you have a good palette.

So what is so wrong with the beige that wasn’t? Perhaps we should be told?

John Norris

jules said,

May 30, 2008 @ 7:41 am

Cue Kiera Knightly voice from Atonement.

Dear John,
I don’t know how to break this to you. Although we hardly know each other, you have been a loyal contributor to this site. I feel it is only fair that I should be honest with you. Please do not hold it against me and I am sure that in time you and I will continue to be friends.

I’m having a mid-life (identity) crisis!

Affectionately,Jules

PS I googled The Meaning of Colour and this is what it had to say about
BEIGE: On its own, the colour beige is a calm neutral background.
It is sometimes seen as dull and boring unless coupled with other colors. It can be a relaxing color for a room.

I am not a room so that leaves calm and boring.

Bolton bap said,

May 30, 2008 @ 8:49 am

I have recently started reading this blog and find it refreshingly witty and insightful towards the Swiss in a playful sarcastic way. Living in the cultural desert of Grenoble (where the french public usually get the brunt of my ‘Oh yes, I’m a foreigner again’ bad days), we sometimes venture to Geneva in search of real Japanese food and we always find it. That is really my only experience with the Swiss (via Japan)…..so I really appreciate the cultural musings.
With regards to the beige clothing, if you like it and feel comfortable with it, then that’s fine isn’t it? It looks like you have a great figure and can wear what you want which shouldn’t be taken for granted! I guess we all get stuck in style ruts where you know you want to change something but are not sure where to go. I have just spent 5 days in London and I shouldn’t compare it with Grenoble but I am living in the fashion equivalent of mountain woman meets the stepford wives. Top Shop is such a huge breath of fresh air even if I have just celebrated my 40th. There’s some lovely clothes there if you leave the minis, ugg boots and Paris Hilton style outfits for those who can pull them off. I am not a fashion vista and not particularly smart but it’s a short step from Burberry to Berketex. In French women, I admire their abilty to eat in moderation (generalisation I know,there are a few hefties in my neighbourhood following the ‘poisson pané diet) and their guilt-free attitude to looking after their bodies. Their dress sense is OK for either job interviews, sun-bathing or public demostrations. Seeing as I’m doing any of those at the moment, I shall live in my parallel Top Shop universe.
P.S. Do you get anything from there by the way?
En attente….

jules said,

May 30, 2008 @ 9:07 am

Hello BB. Thanks for the comment. I spent two hours in Top Shop but alas bought only two cute little smock tops for my girls. I was curious about Kate Moss’ collection did you see it? I think Lexi has some better stuff in her dressing up box! Huge disappointment, as if Kate had rummaged about in her granny’s attic and over-priced. It does make you wonder….I did buy something in Banana Republic though. A bright orange 60s style coat, yey colour!
As for the comments you make about French Women, I feel a whole blog posting coming on, interesting.

Graham said,

May 30, 2008 @ 10:28 am

Bring on the clones.

I like beige.

If it wasn’t for beige, Ralph Lauren would still be Ralph Lifshitz and Diane Keaton would have been naked all through Something’s Gotta Give. Everything Benetton ever made started life as beige and only became “United Colours” when dyed to follow the whims of fashion.

But if you are really fed up with beige, there’s always off-white, cream, wheat, ivory, stone, bone, light camel, pale grey. Khaki, corn, tan, honey, sand etc.

By the way, I thought you looked scrumptious at lunch yesterday. Beige and white wasn’t it?

Nadia said,

May 30, 2008 @ 12:43 pm

I like beige too. It tends to have a fatal attraction for spaghetti sauce when I’m wearing it, or doggies jump up with muddy paws and decorate my trousers with trendy prints, but then I can get covered in their hair and it won’t show. I do admire people who can wear beige ALL DAY and not have a spot to show for it!

I also like black a lot, too. In fact, black’s the predominant color in MY wardrobe. Doggie hairs show up on black. Spaghetti sauce, luckily, does not, nor the sundry bits and pieces my clumsy self likes to splash around. I use a lot of sticky rollers at work to try to tone down the black and white yeti or fuzzy gothic look, but don’t have to think twice about my lunch order…

Now fuschia’s an interesting one… So’s chartreuse. Both go with beige, and black. Hmmm. How about just going with the odd splash of colour?

jules said,

May 30, 2008 @ 1:32 pm

Hi Nadia, Hi Graham,
Something’s Gotta Give is one of my favourite films because I want that blue and beige house and that life (without the obnoxious daughter) although I can never watch it right to the end because if I was Diane K. I would have also had toyboy Keanu Reeves and not wobbly bottomed Jack – who wrote that ending? I also can’t watch the dreadful screen kiss between Keaton and Nicholson, yuk! I digress! Thank you for the compliment Gray and I had a nice lunch too. It appears that you and Nadia have something in common with the food throwing…Perhaps I should have lunch with you both and wear black.

Antoine said,

May 30, 2008 @ 6:25 pm

I agree with the others – if it suits you, if you like it and if it makes you feel comfortable then why change?

Of course if you’re having an identity crisis, a shop that looks like an explosion in a paint factory may not be the best place to visit right now.

Side thought – Would Switzerland be beige if it were a colour? If so, perhaps Mr Jules should be worried about your identity crisis …
:-)

A

Nadia said,

May 30, 2008 @ 9:04 pm

If Switzerland were a colour it would be beige (or grey or navy blue) on the outside with sexy lacy scarlet undies… well, underneath.

Just like any self-respecting accountant.

jules said,

May 30, 2008 @ 9:44 pm

Antoine! Where you beeeeeennnnnnn? Another sparring match between you and Nadia begins hurrah. Sexy lacy scarlet undies Nadia? Do we live in the same country? I think that Palais Mascotte party went to your head. Marks and Sparks knickers (i.e., asexual) more likely.

Nadia said,

May 30, 2008 @ 10:00 pm

Not for the Swiss, dear, not for the Swiss… Don’t forget M&S knickers are a BRITISH concept!

And ditto, Antoine, where’ve you beeeeeeeeen???

jules said,

May 31, 2008 @ 11:12 am

It is geographically a British concept but has now become a global metaphor for sensible no-nonsense (no fun) underwear. But if it has to be Swiss what then would it be?

Graham said,

May 31, 2008 @ 6:19 pm

The Swiss do make fabulous underwear. Hanro and Zimmerli are recognized the world over for quality, but because they are conceived in a cold climate and a by nation that supposedly frowns on pleasure, they are for function rather than fashion. But, hey, who needs split crotch panties? A winter’s night under the duvet after a hard day on the Cresta Run, snuggling up to a shapely bottom encased in a wisp of Hanro silk negligee is something quite wonderful.

In St. Gallen, embroidery is still produced and much sought after by the more fanciful and expensive brands such as Chantal Thomass and Nina Ricci.

I remain a fan of Lise Charmel and Aubade for my girlfriend.

Me? I’m faithful to L.L.Bean boxer shorts. Sorry if I’ve shattered some of your readers fantasies.

penelope said,

June 1, 2008 @ 2:41 pm

Beige and white nothing more chic than this combination. But in the English countryside we have different dress code rules no ‘make-up’ no beige and black only pale colours like pink pink pink as we say location location location! Small men earn less?? Aha.. for that reason Sarko wears high heels then not for Carla Bruni ..Solve the puzzle

Antoine said,

June 2, 2008 @ 7:37 am

Where have I been? Right here but quite caught up with other things happening in my life so have lurked and kept an eye on your comings and goings rather than interrupt with nuggets of my own.

My impression of a self-respecting accountants is not the sort who would wear scarlet undies … or come to think of it, who might, so perhaps I’d better re-sort my christmas card list …

A

Diana said,

June 2, 2008 @ 1:05 pm

MMMmm… Nadia and I live in the same Switzerland =D Nothing too obvious on the outside (unless you’re at one of Nadia’s wild parties) but HOT HOT HOT underneath.

I think Nadia has it right Jules. Beige is great – just spice it up a bit rather than going “over-the-top” colour all at once.

Good luck in Florence,

Diana

Adam said,

June 6, 2008 @ 6:17 pm

Always wanted to do the Cresta Run. Didn’t realise that shapely bottoms came as part of the package…thanks for the heads up, so to speak.

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