Fashion Flashback — Mon Petit Oiseau

I have loved shopping ever since I was in grade school. [This is not necessarily a result of some innate sense of style, or anything as posh-sounding as all that. Every weekend, my mom dragged me on a new shopping odyssey — to department store dinosaurs such as Hecht's and Woodward & Lothrop in Downtown D.C., to the chain stores of Rockville Pike, all the way out to the outlet mall behemoth, Potomac Mills. I had to learn to love it, or lump it; it made the most sense to opt for the former.]

What follows is the first in a series of rapturous odes to some of the fashion brands that have, over the years, helped me cultivate "my look" (for better, or worse).

Mon Petit Ouiseau: The O.G.'s of "putting a bird on it"

When I first had the idea to write about this line, I didn't even realize that they'd been putting out apparel as recently as 2008 and that the woman behind it, Tracy Wilkinson has also dabbled in kids' clothing, interior design and pottery. For the purposes of this post, though, I'm taking it back to 1999.

I used to pop into dearly departed South Austin boutique, Therapy, and fork over money I did not have in exchange for the privilege of walking around with embroidered birds on my butt.

I actually had a pair with a way bigger butt bird than this!

What was the look?

Tons of tabs, piping, over-sized buttons and rounded collars. Looking back on it now, it very closely resembles the "Intermediate" sewing projects I see on the course descriptions for all those L.A. hipster sewing studio classes I keep meaning to sign up for.

Top it all off with my hair in two buns and there you have my go-to look back then. Sexy, never. Spunky forever!

What did I think Mon Petit Oiseau said about me?: 

"Yes, I've recently graduated from college, but that doesn't mean I'm not still young and free-spirited. Plus, it proves I'm financially capable of spending boutique prices on scaled-up children's clothes!"

The twee line communicated to the world that I collected very sweet, sincere indie pop on vinyl (like this, or this), drank lattés with flavored Monin shots in large mugs and engaged in one or more crafts with regularity. 

 

What was the look's shelf-life?
I rocked Mon Petit Oiseau 'round about until 2001, when I moved to New York City. That'd be when the money dried up and all that dewy, doe-eyed nonsense got knocked clean out of me!