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April's
Musings
Thursday, June 16, 2005
“Bo Bo : The Bourgeois Bohemian”
 The
last two years have seen the rise of a new gathering of artistes,
professionals, and Bohemian Bourgeois in Paris, beyond the left
bank. A new colony of influence and affluence has sprung up—the
sophisticated Bobo Bohemian.
What is a Bobo Bohemian?
A little different from Bohemians of old, our Bohemian has money
and lives in a neighborhood, but it's funky and arty and getting
good. She has money for spending on things that she loves, but
it's not about cars or yachts or big item stuff. Though she
has a painting by Raoul Dufy, most of her riches are hard to
pinpoint; she doesn't care about labels or the most popular
joint.
Our Bobo lives in a funky spot, or imagines she could. She sees
herself as a city person; she lives in a loft, in an atelier,
in a stone home, or restyled Victorian. She has rooftop gardens
and shops in her neighborhood. She has a thing for pansies and
violas, and hand-made baskets and bread. Her passports are full
of stamps, she keeps the old ones wrapped with coir string on
a shelf above her desk, and they reflect trips to Turkey, Thailand,
and Timbuktu. She is stylish, with a Bohemian style. She trend
sets, not follows. She and her partner love beautiful things
and like to collect. When they travel they carry a colorful
cloth in their bag to dress up temporary digs, and arriving
in a new spot go straight to the market to buy flowers. They
like Turkish carpets and stone floors, open windows in spring
and warm fires in fall; they are addicted to beauty and scholarship.
Our Bobo may be social or reclusive. She's a reader and thinker,
a doer and drinker. She has her favorite wines, and a collection
of cordials to offer to friends of like mind. She has a variety
of glasses, both painted and etched. She loves old crystal and
cups of bamboo. She keeps a chair in the kitchen of oversized
scale, and a small wooden stool, just for the look.
She likes to wear clothes that reflect her attitude—sophisticated
and traveled, an intellectual outlook, tunics and pants, shawls
and capes, wraps and sarongs, fine linen blouses and vintage
camisoles. Some pieces in silk in unexpected prints, cotton
Khadi that is worn soft, and her favorite velvet pants that
always look right. Whether it is for walking a beach barefoot
or for first night at La Scala, somehow what she wears always
seems intriguing.
She likes her clothes comfortable, but is in need of a statement.
She has jackets for vernissages and easy stuff for the plane.
She travels a lot so may shop out of season. She doesn't like
mainstream and depends on her favorite shops to find new treasures
and inspired designs.
She loves her partner; he feels like she does. She keeps her
hair long so she can play different roles, though now and then
she plays Pan and Pixie and Robin Hood (it's the tunic and tights
and thoughts of the wood).
Something about India has always fascinated her; it's all of
those textiles and textures and colors and prints and then there's
Oriental collars, a swish of silk; It is an eclectic mélange.
She doesn't like suits, it is just not her style, but hats and
bags are a favorite weakness, they're all about changing and
fashion attitude, updating a look, new shape, different color,
but can still be worn with her fabulous Persian Lamb coat.
She's a beautiful woman, at least her man tells her so, and
she is happy to hear it, and fondly caresses her wedding ring
bought in Nepal. She's the bourgeois Bohemian living her dream,
in cotton dusters with sisal market bags, pink espadrilles,
or knee high leather boots. She's willing to try things that
look fun, intrigued by the new and seduced by the old, fashion
is just part of her life being told.
She's our Bobo Bohemian—living with style.
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