A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 7 – Dream Filter
April 26, 2020
Day 7 is titled “Find Your Dream Life Filter” in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 More Chic Days. She writes about having a quick and effective way of knowing when some thing, person or activity is a good match for our chic lives. This helps us zero in on all the things that support and nourish our dreams as well as avoid things, people and activities that bring us down. The wonderful thing about having a clear and descriptive filter is that it adds fun to your life. Every purchase or activity, person or thought can be evaluated by how they match up to our chic dreams. It becomes lovely and easy to recognize those people and things that will add fun and beauty to our lives. It also becomes easy to see when something (like a potential purchase) is almost …. but not quite right. We know to leave it in the store and keep our eyes open for something that is a better fit for our vision. Once we build the lovely and detailed description of how our future dream chic self lives (as we did in Day 6), we can use that vision as our “chic filter.”
Fiona calls her filter the “Ralph Filter” after Ralph Lauren. She describes how she developed her vision by creating style files and carefully studying Ralph Lauren print ads to determine exactly what in the image she liked and why. We can do the same thing by being very conscious of what images and thoughts create a sense of excitement and happiness in us. When we understand what moves us, we can add this information to our “Chic” filter. With the filter in place, we easily step ever closer to becoming our dream “chic” selves.
I love walking around my neighborhood in Paris admiring all the store window displays. Typically, the window displays change every 4-6 weeks. Right now, during lockdown, the stores are all closed and most window displays are static. (I say most because several windows have been updated in the last several weeks!) I use Fiona’s advice and try to look deeper at the displays that I like and determine the exact details (and what they represent) that I like. The “work” of trying to understand exactly what I like and what those details represent to me is fun!
For example, there are several store windows that display lightweight trench/raincoats in Spring colors like watermelon red (a sort of rosy red) and daffodil yellow. The trim is a crisp navy or royal blue. The non-clothing objects in the windows are soft green painted outdoor cafe tables and chairs and vintage bicycles (in perfect condition, of course.) Looking at the display, it makes me think of those vintage posters of Springtime in Monte Carlo or Cannes or other exotic European seaside locations. I not only like the actual Spring weight coat, I like the whole fantasy of taking the coat with me on a Spring or Summer dash to Nice or Monaco. Clearly, I like the idea of travel to beautiful, glamorous (to me, at least) sounding destinations. So, I add that detail to my filter. I like travel so I save my money for it. I also like chatting with people who like to travel. Knowing and acting on this helps me stay happy and excited as I keep my eyes “on target” of my “dream chic” life.
Today’s post is a published little later than most. We had a “screen-free” day at the apartment today from 10 am – 6 pm. It was fun! I tried a new way of making quiche today (with leftover chicken from yesterday’s lunch) and I had a lovely several hours hanging out with the whole family working on puzzles and models. The neighborhood just clapped and cheered for France’s medical workers. We now wave at each other across courtyards and across streets each evening.
