The Story
The Journal
of Coquette
“I disregard the proportions, the measures, the tempo of the ordinary world. I refuse to live in the ordinary world as ordinary women. To enter ordinary relationships. I want ecstasy. I am a neurotic — in the sense that I live in my world. I will not adjust myself to the world.
I am adjusted to myself.”
— Anaïs Nin
The Origin
For Inger
Her hands.
Hair, scissors, mirrors —
a salon called Coquette
in a small town in Sweden.
I was the niece who came on weekends,
the child of her sister's second marriage.
She had no use for me
and I adored her completely.
Once she brought an Australian to the house.
Once she told me my mother left, not my father.
Once she said: do not soften.
Now she is gone.
And the salon is gone.
And I name this journal for her.
What she taught me is this:
beauty has nerve.
That is all.
That is everything.
The name also nods to Amy Spindler's Fashions of the Times at The New York Times Magazine, where I worked for years. Two threads braided into one journal.
Inspired by
Lula Magazine · Italian Vogue · Tim Walker · Tasha Tudor · Beatrix Potter · Anaïs Nin
The original Journal of Coquette lives on Tumblr as an archive.
Visit the Tumblr archive →