“Every age can be enchanting, provided you live within it.”

-BRIGITTE B A R D O T

As another Halloween rolls by, I take time to pause and reflect on this special holiday. To me, every day is an occasion to play and experiment with transformation. What keeps me excited is being able to channel a certain characteristic and infuse that with my personal style. To repurpose is to make the old fresh again, and to me that’s magic.

I was recently reminded by a dear friend of the Oscar Wilde quote, “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” This poses an interesting topic during a holiday which encourages us to wear masks. Perhaps masks support, providing a protective barrier so we can drop all inhibitions and allow our true spirits to shine. Or perhaps we hide behind them. Whichever you relate to more, there’s no denying that we’re all a little liberated when we play dress up.

We all live our lives differently by choice. My choice is to encourage others to be comfortable with who they are. Strangely enough I find comfort in taking on different aspects of my life experiences. Every person, place and conversation I come across ultimately become a part of me and my next phase. It’s always fun to see where I’m at come October when the ‘transformation spotlight’s’ on and everyone’s watching.

I learned something about myself from this holiday: I don’t plan. It wasn’t until a few days before Halloween that I came up with my costume (same with last year). I never go out of my way to buy anything, nor do I force a costume. I simply work with what’s presented and currently influencing me. This year I’d been heavily influenced by Paris. It seemed everywhere I turned, all roads led to Paris. Last month I had also become interested in learning more about Old Hollywood and it’s fashion icons.

A week before Halloween I attended a beauty event in Downtown. As I got ready I thought my hair was naturally falling into the classic Bardot bouffant. I went with it as I tied in a black ribbon. Strangely enough I had never seen one of her films nor had I begun to learn much about her. Regardless, I was undoubtedly influenced by her beauty from day one as I’ve been known to rock an occasional bow or two.

At the event they had a fashion illustrator doing beauty portraiture’s. That’s when it all clicked. As I sat down with the artist, Regina, she began to fluidly painted out the shape of my bow. Then she proceeded to the soft volume of my hair. She filled in the waves of my ruffled, off-the-shoulder top, (which I now know is referred to as a Bardot top), added some thick cat-eyed liner and two pillowy pink lips. She looks up at me for the final touches and says, you look very Parisian tonight. In that moment I realized I was channeling Brigitte and the DJ cued up his music from a brief pause. His choice? French music (I kid you not).

And so it was decided…

Ms. Bardot it was.

Halloween has and will always be one of my favorite holidays ~ for any day which encourages you to embrace whoever or whatever you wish (with zero judgement) is a symbol for pure freedom.