Real people: Black lightens up for summer

After a cool start, June has been an exuberance of fine weather, and on one evening, the necessary mix of sun and shower lit a rainbow over our building. Le Duc (in the hat) chatted with T. as the sky shimmered through the full spectrum.

When we visit the market in summer, the black coats and jeans have vanished, reminding me of a verse of Joni Mitchell's in "Morning Morgantown":
"Ladies in their rainbow fashions,
Coloured stop and go lights flashin',
We'll wink at total strangers passin'
In morning Morgantown."

Oh, there's still black, but as a print, on a shift...

...or on a graphic sundress:

...or a striped scarf:

And if wearing neutrals, women added a wink such as red-ribboned espadrilles:

All around me, I noticed that they used printed canvas totes to add interest to neutrals...

...and carried summer-bright bags, citron, fuchsia, white.

 One of the best accessories, though, was on a bike:

I could not find the pattern for whatever you call that, but if you crochet, here's a free bike u-lock cosy pattern from Toronto's The Knit Café, a winsome gift idea.

In a quote that's gone viral, French writer and Instagram-goddess Sophie Fontanel advised that to dress well, read well and widely, visit museums, surf the net; absorb anything but magazines. (See this Vogue interview, in which she also expresses displeasure with certain Parisienne-chic tropes.)

What she's saying is, build your eye—whether you draw inspiration from Iris or Inès—and wear what you dig.

We can also continue to learn, even after his death, from Bill Cunningham's affectionate photographs of persons of all ages, in all manner of dress. Always amused and engaged, he parsed, as my mother said, "what they are wearing",  but never prescriptively; he encouraged us to find our individual expressions.

So when I'm shopping the market and neighbourhood for Québec strawberries and saucisson, I'm also charmed by Montréalers and visitors alike as they embrace the short, sweet summer—and at times, one another:

Vacation notice

This is the last post for two months; toodles, poodles, till September. I wish you a double dip of seasonal pleasures, and look forward to hearing all about your adventures, very soon.