Found this charming
post (below) in the inbox this morning. What a lovely piece of writing, and flattered by the subject matter!
A girl after all our hearts at Belinda's Store, author
Joanna Scott has been enchanted by life in the creative and cultural melting pot that is New York City, recording thoughts and inspirations in her adorable blog
collector.
As lovers of all things New York, Jo helps transport us to the special place in our memory that holds the sights, sounds, smells and tastes we adore about the city. A visit to
collector is pure temptation for your wanderlust - you might even catch yourself clicking through online flight sites with the thought of sampling
Burrata in SoHo almost too much to resist.
Highly recommend a scroll through Jo's endearing musings and sublime imagery.
P.S. LOVE the image from Harper’s Bazaar March 1955, by Richard Avedon, found on
myvintagevogue.com. Thanks Jo!
“Once upon a time, there was a quiet little village in the French countryside, whose people believed in Tranquilité - Tranquility. If you lived in this village, you understood what was expected of you. You knew your place in the scheme of things. And if you happened to forget, someone would help remind you. In this village, if you saw something you weren’t supposed to see, you learned to look the other way. If perchance your hopes had been disappointed, you learned never to ask for more. So through good times and bad, famine and feast, the villagers held fast to their traditions. Until, one winter day, a sly wind blew in from the North…”
Harris, Joanne. Chocolat. UK: Doubleday, 1999.
I love Joanne Harris’ novel Chocolat. It’s magical, sensual, and imaginative. Its film version starred Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench, and Johnny Depp (already a winning combination) and its plot centers around the enchanting influence of one woman who charms the conservative village folk with chocolate sea shells, spicy hot chocolate, and aphrodisiac cacao nips. Yamba - with its sun, salt, surf culture, and laid-back locals – is hardly the uptight, anxious, suspicious community of Harris’ fictional French village, Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, but there’s something undeniably Vianne Rocher-esque about Belinda Sanders. Purveyor of beautiful, charming, luxury goods; stylist extraordinaire; and Belinda’s Store boutique owner, Belinda has Vianne Rocher’s magic touch. First-timers to her store may arrive. Unsure of what they want. Jaded by past-shopping nightmares where whippet-like children threw garment after garment over their change room door, telling them everything looks “hot”, while their self-esteem dwindled and their desperation grew. Slowly, magically, Belinda finds them treasures of clothes to love - clothes that fit their body and suit their style. Beautiful gifts for the home, vintage gems sourced from the world over like French baskets, or locally made goods like driftwood lamps. I purchasedSibella Court’s “The Stylist’s Guide to NYC” from Belinda, and came back to its launch in New York City – ahead of the trend is she. Just as Vianne’s chocolaterie, La Céleste Praline, was doubted and disapproved, I’ve no doubt Belinda had her fair share of nay-sayers. “How can high-end brands and fashion-forward lines do well in a sleepy beach town like Yamba?” they might say…
…But just as Josephine, Armande, and Roux fell under Vianne’s delicious spell, Belinda (a local herself) has charmed the town, the returning holidayers, the one-time visitors, women who phone in for their regular orders, and their friends. Like the clever North Wind that blew in change and freed desires, soft whispers of her flair have spread far and wide. Is that Zoe Elizabeth I spy on main beach? Ginger & Smart at a nearby country wedding? Jac + Jackat a UNE graduation? In “Belinda’s Store” the film version, I see the final cut:
The camera pans along busy Yamba Street at the peak of holiday season. Fashionable women pop from bakery to fishmonger, book store to grocer. Classic skirts swish, fashionable heels clack, dazzling bangles jingle, and smiles radiate from their faces.
Camera cuts to Belinda, in her magenta pink boutique, surveying this enchanting outcome. Cheekily, almost imperceptibly, she *winks*.
