Quote of the Week

Icon Alert: Carrie Bradshaw

In the late ninties, Darren Star introudced the world to one of fashion's elite.  She taught us lessons in life, love, friendship and couture in the most fabulous of ways.  Whether covered in Cavalli or egyptian cotton, she captivated millions, using her Manolo Blahniks to "Carrie" us away.  New York's most iconic sex columnist, Carrie Bradshaw, has become a household name whether in the Upper East Side, Paris, or just off the Jersey Turnpike.  Ranking number 11 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters in 2005, Carrie Bradshaw was also named The Guardian's Icon of the Decade in 2009.  "Because we had all heard Carrie's stories in our own girlfriends, and recognized something in her of our best selves", says The Guardian.  The paper expressed their icon status praise by saying Carrie liberated young women, showing them it was okay to explore their sexuality.  Unlike traditional roles in shows with a male and his beautiful love interest, Carrie showed women that the lady can be the hero, and doesn't need a constant love to be fabulous.  I couldn't agree more.

So, what makes Carrie an icon?  Using a fashionable phraseology Carrie related to us in all aspects of life.  Through unbelievable wordplay and designer clad dialogue, she helped 20-somethings ease into their thirties, single women transition into relationships...and back out of them, and closeted teens turn out as fabulous men.  In her words:

Her Parisian fashion was always trés bien

On Fashion: "The fact is, sometimes it's really hard to walk in a single woman's shoes.  That's why we need really special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun", Carrie knew a about shoes, actually she had about a $40,000 education on them.

On keeping a man hooked: "I revealed too much too soon.  I was emotionally slutty".  In other words, don't be an emotional whore, it's as annoying to men as a real whore is to women.

On Breakups: "Maybe you're only allotted a certain amount of tears per man, and I've used all mine up".  That is, don't waste your time pining after a man who broke your heart.  The best we can do is put on our big girl shoes, and strut holding your head high to who's coming next.


On Family: "The most important thing in life is your family.  There are days you love them, and others you don't.  But, in the end, they're the people you always come home to.  Sometimes, it's the family you're born into and sometimes it's the one you make for yourself".  I could try to elaborate, but why fix something that's perfect?

On Friends: "No matter who broke your heart, or how long it takes to heal, you'll never get through it without your friends".  Remember, relationships could leave a hole in your heart, but friends are the glue that make it whole again.

En Vogue: "When I first moved to New York, I bought Vogue instead of dinner.  I just felt it fed me better".  I can't improve on that.


Most importantly, Carrie taught me never to settle.  Why waist time on an Aiden, or a Berger, especially on a Petrovsky.  These men are all just your "Mr. (Almost) Right", your post-it, and your creepy old man.  Princes come in go in fairy tales, but a Big is always there (whether you like it or not) in real life, they just have to get in their shining town car and find you.

Verbal Eloquence

If I think of fabulous women from different time periods I think of Audrey Hepburn and Carrie Bradshaw.  An icon and a sex columnist, both of whom are trés sophistiqué.  Besides knowing the importance of a stiletto, these women all have one thing in common that made them the women we think of today- they knew how to speak.  Easy right? We all know how to speak, so we should all be sophistiqué as well.  It really does sound as simple as clasping a Tiffany bracelet.  Unfortunately, just because we KNOW the words we should say doesn't always mean we will say them.  A good vocabulary can come in handy in more ways than one.

Let me first pose a question, have you ever been taking a stroll (perhaps down 5th Ave or the Champs-Élysées) and heard a woman going off on her cell phone?  Is there anything that is more unpleasant to the ears than having to hear someone relentlessly cuss in public?  The answer is no.  If you are one of these women who is yelling at their boyfriends in public I request that you stop, because you look rather trashy.  No one likes a potty mouth.  Yes we all cuss on occasion (albeit I'd rather I didn't), but let's keep it amongst friends and in closed quarters shall we?

A multifarious (look that baby up, I did) vocabulary can also make you seem far more informed about a subject than you actually are.  Yes, if you can pepper your conversations with fantastic words then you can hold your own in an array of different conversations.  Be warned though, just because you sound sophisticated doesn't all of a sudden make you an Einstein, so don't go to overboard and know your own conversational limits.

Lastly, a chic lexicon is just pleasant to the ears.  The right words in the right places can make a huge difference.  It's quite annoying hearing people overuse words such as: like, sick, mad (it's an emotion, not a variation of very), cool, uhmm (dreadful time waster), and words of that nature.  Instead, why not spruce up your conversation with lovely adverbs and interesting adjectives.

I know it can be hard to think of new or less popular words to use in conversation, so I would like to help.  Every day I shall be posting a new word of the day, kind of like those adorable calendars our grade school teachers used to keep on their desks.  Try integrating them into your vocabulary each day and I suspect that you will be sounding more eloquent as each day passes.