Mademoiselle

Mademoiselle. This is how one of the Zara* shop assistants addressed me.

Maybe it’s the fact that I have been living for the last 6 years in the UK (where you are rarely greeted by shop assistants with anything beyond a “hiya!”) or maybe that I am just getting older (very small maybe…denial phase) but nobody has called me “mademoiselle” for the last, hum, 6 years.

Needless to say that given I have been a “madame” for the last 10 years (yes I was a child bride in case you were wondering), this simple word has magically uplifted my mood du jour. You say shallow? I say probably but who cares!

Now the critical question, especially in this award season** is of course- who should I thank for this?

Several scenarii*** come to mind:

1. My mum and the good genes she (hopefully) has passed on me? Every time I look at my beautiful mum, I pray the beauty gods that the old adage “every girl will look like her mum” is true. She not only is gorgeous but also looks much much much younger (maybe she was a child bride as well ? She says that I should definitely say that…and maybe add that she is only 36yo….hum, ok then!)

2. My religious skin routine (and my SPF obsession )?  I can never talk enough about that but I do genuinely believe that good skin is the keystone to beauty and self confidence. So for years, I have been following a very strict (no water) cleansing, toning and moisturising routine, twice a day and ALWAYS wear SPF during the day…no matter how grey the London sky is.

3. My pretty relaxed outfit? In the country where Kim Kardashian IS actually a fashion inspiration (think tight pants, blingy tops ideally in tight fabrics, sky high questionably chic shoes and hair straightened within an inch of its life), my relaxed dark green shirt, light green skinny jeans and nude flats combo, complimented by a mane of naturally dried hair (let’s be kind and call it coiffe-decoiffe****) probably looked out of place. Who would dress that casually for god sake unless they are basically too young to know any better? (very questionable scenario given that this means I should probably be 8…which lets be honest is not a plausible story. If I was 8, I would be much shorter duh!)

4. My lack of IT bag? If she was looking for my LV, Chanel or whatvere is the latest IT bag in Casablanca these days, she certainly couldn’t see any. When I go out on a walk, I tend not to bother with a bag that not only will be heavy to carry around (all that mandatory gold engraving is quite heavy you know!) but will be an attraction to the  bag snatchers out there (this is Casa, not Santa Monica after all!).

or maybe just maybe….

5. The lady was trying to be nice to me? Now I really want to go about saying how implausible this scenario is but I just can’t. I do love to to joke about my fellow homies sense of style and overall over-the-topness (new word, call the Oxford dictionary!) but I feel I can’t really challenge their genuine niceness. So yes, it might be only that she calls her female customers “mademoiselle” as it is surely much nicer than “madame”.

Anyway, it still made my day

Bisous bisous.

* Zara store in Casablanca Morocco

**Award season: Golden globes, SAG, Oscars and there sea of thank yous

***Scenarii as in plural of scenario, keeping up with the “movie” theme…in case you were wondering, I am indeed very proud of this metaphor

**** french for messy hair