At the market: Spring from the ground up

Following closely on the overuse of "intentional" and "on-trend", we now have a flood of elevation. "You can 'elevate' everything from your dog's wardrobe and your very soul. I've seen the overuse of 'elevated' ascribed to AI copyrot, but whether the reason, it signals mundane products veneered with aspirational BS.

Besides, the timing is off: in summer, elevating anything but your feet seems forced. The most pleasing view is at ground level: gleaming strawberries, local asparagus with bursting tips and supple stems. Last evening, my friend Christiane served a salad of greens, cherry tomatoes and lightly-balanced spears  dressed with a tart rosé vinaigrette. 

I went to the market to buy some asparagus, and as always, see what women wore in the first days of June.

Two women in white: At left, a flower-strewn jean jacket, and at right, cropped white jeans and sneakers, marinière, and navy sweater. Easy and familiar, but nodding to the season.

White is always spring!

These young women caught my eye; they looked unconstrained by what's 'elevated', and wearing what they enjoy. I liked the dash of the yellow jacket's striped sleeve (accessorized by a mighty good-looking donut), and the vendor at left in her oatmeal shirt-jacket lit by a spring-coloured scarf. Some stylists claim the shacket is over, but here it has served as a transitional piece since before the portmanteau appeared.

Jackets on young women

Greens are not just for eating! 

The Indian block print was worn on a still-crisp morning with a soft grey scarf, and the jacket at right was a show-stopping fabric. I could not quite capture the shifting iridescence of the silver, gold and green hues, shimmery yet with depth. Could this be upholstery fabric repurposed as outerwear?

Green grace notes

I photograph men strictly for balance, or that's my story. Monsieur was casually elegant in his caramel jacket and chinos, pale blue shirt, and white scarf with its dip-dyed blue border. You can't see his brown leather loafers. Leather grownup shoes make a difference.

This spring is especially welcome, because winter began in mid-November with snow that lasted into April. Now streets hum with terrasses hammered in by the day, the festival rat-a-tat has begun, friends call to say "Drop by for a Campari" or "Let's meet for an affogato." 

Here is one, Kris, whose haul of April Cornell dresses was in an earlier post. She's in her strawberry print shirtdress, playing "Morning Has Broken" on the communal piano at the market, as liltingly lovely as (Yusuf) Cat Stevens' hit song. 

I just learned that the lyrics, first sung as a Christian hymn, were written in the early 1930s by the English writer and poet Eleanor Farjeon. Kris played it on the market's community piano, newly-tuned for passers-by.

As the chorus goes, 

"Morning has broken, like the first morning

Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning

Praise for them springing fresh from the world."