My Paris Dream: An Education in Style, Slang, and Seduction in the Great City on the Seine Audiobook (Free)

A charming and insightful memoir approximately coming old as a fashion journalist in 1980s Paris, by former Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar editor Kate Betts, the author of Everyday Icon: Michelle Obama and the Power of Style

“You can always keep coming back,” my mother said. “Just go.”

As a young female, Kate Betts nursed a dream of striking out on her own inside a faraway place and learning to be a glamorous foreign correspondent. After college-and not really without trepidation-she took off for Paris, hiring an area in the about My Paris Dream: An Education in Style, Slang, and Seduction in the fantastic City for the Seine house of a young BCBG (bon stylish, bon genre) family members and tossing herself in to the regional tradition. She was decided to understand French slang, style, and savoir faire, also to find a job that would provide her a reason to stay.

After some dues-paying jobs that seemed only to reinforce her outsider status, Kate’s hard work and willingness to defend myself against any assignment paid: Her writing and intrepid forays into la France Profonde-true France-caught the eye of John Fairchild, the mercurial fashion arbiter and publisher of Women’s Wear Daily, the industry’s bible. Kate’s earliest assignments-investigating the nutrient water favored by high culture, running after a costumed band of outrageous boar hunters through the forests of Brittany-were a rough apprenticeship, but she was rewarded for her attempts and was initiated in to the elite rates of Mr. Fairchild’s respected few who sat beside him in leading row with private previews in the ateliers from the gods of French style. From a woozy however mesmerizing Yves Saint Laurent as well as the mischievous and commanding Karl Lagerfeld towards the riotous, brilliant young guns who have been rewriting all of the rules-Martin Margiela, Helmut Lang, John Galliano-Betts provides us a look at of what it had been like to become an American woman, studying herself, falling in like, and getting her tribe.

Kate Betts’s captivating memoir brings alive the enchantment of France-from the nightclubs of 1980s Paris where she learned to dance Le Rock, to the lavender fields of Provence as well as the grand spectacle of the Cour Carrée-and magically re-creates that moment in life when a young woman discovers who she’s meant to be.

Compliment for My Paris Dream

“[A] glittering coming-of-age tale.”-Entertainment Regular (The Have to List)

“Fashion and self-examination-froth and wisdom-might look like odd bookfellows, but Betts brings them together with winning confidence.”-The NY Times Book Review

“As light and refreshing as an glaciers cream cone from the legendary Berthillon, My Paris Wish evokes the places, noises, smells and styles of 1980s Paris.”-USA Today

“My Paris Dream rocks !.”-Man Repeller

“What was Bett’s Paris fantasy? Her fantasy was her awakening, [which] is usually elegantly chronicled in these pages.”-The Daily Beast

“For individuals who want in the men and women involved with haute couture, Betts’ reminiscences will be a delight.”-Kirkus Reviews

“Filled with slangy French, delectable meals and swoon-worthy style.”-BookPage

“An amazing tale of a young woman in Paris endeavoring to break into the fashion business.”-Sophia Amoruso, author of #GIRLBOSS

“Kate Betts’s story brought me back to my own young self and the journey I made-in my case, from a little city in Illinois to New York City.”-Cindy Crawford