I still adore clothes. It is ridiculous.
My great distraction is planning a new dress. Well, there it is, awful I know. Absurd.
My dream is to finish my book, get a lovely fur coat. Underneath I will wear a purple dress and ropes of pearls. Jean Rhys, Smile Please: An Unfinished Autobiography.
When I thought about my clothes I was too sad to cry. About clothes, it’s awful.
Everything makes you want pretty clothes like hell. Jean Rhys, Voyage in the Dark.
I love the directness of Rhys’s comments. Her desire for pretty clothes is palpable and unabashed–as it should be. Rhys’s elaborate hat, fur, and ruffled blouse all bear witness to a desire to dress attractively. The quotes are taken from passages of Rhys’s letters. This page was guest-edited by Anne Kinney, Professor of East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Virginia.
Jean has made Dominicans proud for many generations.