joy magnetism: Nothin' like a dame




@Joymagnetism, now on Instagram!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Nothin' like a dame

Magnet #487 - Audrey, in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Confession. I'm not a big Breakfast at Tiffany's fan. I'm sorry. I know, I'm a girl, a girl in New York City - I'm supposed to revere offbeat characters like Holly Golightly and Carrie Bradshaw.

In fact, not liking Breakfast might actually make me inhuman.

Oh, I know Holly's supposed to be all quirky and daring and brave, and then by herself, she's the complete opposite, and it takes the love of a good, if slightly befuddled, man in the shape of George Peppard to make her truly shine.

I get it. And yet, still, I've never been able to identify with this character. She drives me insane.

She's gorgeous, though, no one can argue with that.

I picked her for today, because first, the song Nothin' like a Dame has been rolling through my head all morning - not that it has anything to do with Audrey or Holly or the movie. It's just that South Pacific's playing here in town, and the commercials are incessant, and it's always that song.

But second, Holly Golightly reminds me of all the funny girls in New York City. The ones who are obviously wearing skirts they know are too short for daylight, because they keep surreptitiously pulling them down. Or the ones who are clearly wearing stilettos too high, because they're walking funny, and desperately avoiding subway grates. Or the ones who are standing outside the fashionable restaurants - switching out one pair of flip-flops...for another pair of flip-flops. Don't get me wrong, I've been accused of all three.

But today's target is the cutechick on the train this morning. The one who was standing in the center of the train, with her cute blousy outfit and tights, her hair carelessly, yet artfully, tossed at her nape, her giant designer bag and shopping bags creating a wall around her tiny frame, taking up entirely too much room.

The one who, while everyone else was smooshed up against each other trying not to fall over, nonchalantly looked in her giant compact mirror and applied her mascara (three coats each!), then put that away to get out her smaller mirror compact, so that she could apply her blush and lipstick. Half of the train watched her, both in wonder and annoyance at her ability to not even hang on to the bar.

Well, I guess Holly was right - "I mean, a girl just can't go to Sing Sing with a green face."
Pin It!

2 comments:

Vicki said...

I actually don't think Capote wanted us to like Holly. I think he wanted us to be intrigued by her. I wouldn't say that I liked her, but by the end of the movie I at least felt sympathetic towards her. That said, I wanted to kill her when she pushed Cat out into the rain. Bitch.

Kevinpars said...

That's odd. That was my favorite scene in the movie. I would like to repeat that scene at home the next time it rains (which may be in October).