The Memories Will Keep You Warm: aka What I Wore In La Paz
Is there any weapon greater than a Quebec winter? I have never experienced this much snow in my entire life. Surely, this is the kind of weather that took out the Greenland Vikings.
Record-breaking snowfall simply should not exist in my reality. I know I’m from the Northeast, but every dog has its day —et mine was approximately 3,000 yesterdays ago.
I’m over the 30 inches of snow (not an exaggeration!!!), I’m over high negatives, I’m exhausted by windchill, et I’m battling a state of constant apocalyptic aporia because I know winter will end but it isn’t ending today when the world (me) needs it to most<3
But instead of hyper-fixating on the fact that I can’t just jet off to The White Lotus: Sicily —or anywhere else rn— I’m doing the best I can with what I’ve got: swiping through fit pics from the Mexico trip I was on exactly 30 days ago.
But who’s counting?
Lemme just set the scene: it was mid-January et probably 60 degrees below zero because that’s all this city seems to know! But I didn’t let that stop me from wearing suede cowboy boots et white barrel leg denim. It didn’t matter, I was off to work in La Paz.
I know it’s the wise thing to dress for the city you’re leaving from —who knows what could happen! But, reader, if I had to put on a puffer one more time, I feared I would utterly shatter, only to rebirth into a cocoon that never hatches. A shell of a woman.
So the trusted Levi’s 90s trucker jacket it was.
BUT IMAGINE MY QUELLE SURPRISE when on the two-hour drive from the airport to the hotel, I swiftly discovered that the weather was not muy caliente but in fact, kinda chilly!!
I was wearing wool blazers to dinner!!
One of my most favorite jackets. Soph sourced it ages ago, et I bought it off her when we first became friends. She actually DM’d me about it personally because she knew I’d love it —et DO! It looks like vintage Moschino et is, in fact, the perfect jacket if I ever get invited to a circus-themed soirée (which just feels more likely than one would think).
Layering by the sea!!!*
Keeping white denim clean for two wears —on a work trip, no less??? AWARD HER.
I even wore a cardigan in the desert!
But that’s Baja in January, babe.
I only wore a swimsuit once —for a steam in the steam room— but I did wear shorts on the first day on set
Looking back at these photos now, I realize I wore a few sentimental things on this trip too. Besides the colourblock jacket from Soph, the Just Cavalli belt I thrifted in Antwerp*, et the ankara dress my bestie’s mom handed me down from Nigeria (which I had altered into a skirt et layered over half of a 2017 birthday look the haters said I would never wear again(!!!*)), I also rewore my quinceañera dama dress —15 years later.
The 2017 birthday look in question!!
Mexico was a little cooler than I expected, but it was still warm enough that watching people ice skate from my window seat —15F*— as I flew home made me big sad immediately.
The vision of palm trees is beginning to wilt in my mind. I haven’t felt the sun on my face in what feels like eons. Is this the 1000 years longing Tilda Swinton was trying to tell Idris Elba about???*
But I digress. I’ll make it out the snow like I have every winter before. You just can’t kill a bad b*tch I’m afraid.
Now, if nothing else, let's at least pretend we're still here:
FOOTNOTES
*I know it’s a gulf but you tell me how dramatic “layering by the gulf” sounds in comparison.
*I was in Belgium during Dries’ last week as Creative Director. Very special trip por moi!
*HI HATERS
*Economy. Because celebrities are just like us!
*At the time of writing this, I still haven’t seen this movie.
