A charming and insightful memoir about coming of age as a fashion journalist in 1980s Paris, by former Vogue and Harpers Bazaar editor Kate Betts, the author of Everyday Icon Michelle Obama and the Power of StyleYou can always come back, my mother said. Just go. As a young woman, Kate Betts nursed a dream of striking out on her own in a faraway place and becoming a glamorous foreign correspondent. After college—and not without trepidation—she took off for Paris, renting a room in the apartment of a young BCBG bon chic, bon genre family and throwing herself into the local culture. She was determined to master French slang, style, and savoir faire, and to find a job that would give her a reason to stay.After a series of dues-paying jobs that seemed only to reinforce her outsider status, Kates hard work and willingness to take on any assignment paid off Her writing and intrepid forays into la France Profonde—true France—caught the eye of John Fairchild, the mercurial fashion arbiter and publisher of Womens Wear Daily, the industrys bible.
