Self-portrait in a mirror: rain slick on city streets. Tires glide and splash, drops of water pitter-patter from trees and ledges onto open umbrellas. Boots click-clack, as horses once clip-clopped, down this very boulevard. She’s late but doesn’t rush. She smiles at the rain. She has long been at home on streets like this one.
A series of snapshots, by turns grainy and bright, each picture a still life from a life that’s never still. Moments of movement, forever frozen in a flash. Hailing a taxi. Checking her watch. On an island, stomping in puddles. Zipping a collar, a skirt. Buckling an overcoat, tightening the ripcords on rainwear. Meeting the day and braving the elements in sleek, resilient leathers, robust twills, supple cashmere and corduroy. Double-breasted, high- waisted, boot-cut. On a bridle path or a busy corner. Astride a horse or a motorcycle, in sturdy boots and a studded biker jacket whose construction bears the imprint of a saddle.
Her clothes stand out, a painterly palette with vibrant accents: earthy browns and inky blacks, buttery beige and étoupe grey, deep and luscious reds. They insulate against the cold and damp, refine and streamline a silhouette with the rigour of a riding jacket. They create borders with the landscape but free her to move through it, breathing as she breathes, bundled up but fiercely present. They show up in the snapshots as subtle shapes of self-expression, form forged by function: sharp cuts, short zips, prominent étrivière belts and a lozenge motif telescoping centuries of craftsmanship. A smocked waist dress stitched from scarves. Jodhpurs reinvented as leather long johns. A saddle pad trans- formed into a quilted leather biker jacket, a blanket coat that unfurls into a real blanket. In a forest, in a park. Between archetypes, between masculine and feminine, with versa- tility, solidity, and attention to detail her companions.
A ray of sunshine pierces the cloud cover, parting the fine curtain of mist. The light refracts off the pavement, dazzling against the grey. Boldly, she rides on.
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