Following in the French footsteps from Picnic in Provence by Elizabeth Bard, last month, thanks to Dymocks, the KarryOn Book Club members read and reviewed My Paris Dream by Kate Betts.
Last month together with Dymocks we’ve picked the book My Paris Dream by Kate Betts in which she describes her personal journey taking a leap of faith and moving to Paris where she throws herself into the Parisian culture, master French and finds a job.
KarryOn Book Club Member Reviews:
Living your dream is hard, unlikely for most of us, but Kate Betts has let us in on hers and shows that it is possible. This month involved another tag along trip to Paris/France, which again I was glad to take… Without presuming we know our way around France or how to speak French Kate Betts manages to smoothly walk the reader through her adventures in Paris and the realisation that a dream isn’t always how you imagined it would be, no matter how much you want it and work for it.
They fashion industry seems a hard nut to crack, and we get the privilege to find out about it without even attending a fitting. Reading My Paris Dream is a wonderful way to spend an evening, living the highs, lows and tumultuous days of Kate Betts’ Paris Dream through her words. To be so easily thrown away and ostracised because you aren’t in favour or want to do something different must have been an awful experience, and to have persevered and reached the heights that Kate Betts has is to be applauded. This is the kind of female role model that young girls should aspire to and be inspired by. Kate Betts has earned the right to name drop, and does so so subtly that it does not take away from the flow of her memoir. It’s necessary, because fashion(!), and makes her story seem all the more exciting…
Thank you Karry On travel/bookclub for the copy of My Paris Dream by Kate Betts.
Emma Amme
“You can always come back. Just go.” I think every traveller’s mother has once uttered those words to ease that last minute trepidation you have before setting off on a life changing adventure.
Kate has fallen in love with Paris and has made the decision to throw herself wholeheartedly into the French culture by moving there after college. After graduating from Princeton, she shirks off the requirement to follow her friends straight into the expected world of internships and corporate ladder climbing in her native New York and sets about following her dreams of the Parisian lifestyle.
Can an American truly fit in in Paris? Kate learns the lingo, emulates the fashion and social norms of those around her, yet at times she still seems to be an outsider looking in. Can she find her niche? Or will she always be La Grosse Americane? Working in a series of jobs trying to get a foot in the door, Kate gets a break when she lands an apprenticeship at a fashion magazine and is thrown head first into the Parisian high end fashion scene. She is at the forefront of a new era in Paris fashion, interviewing designers who in the years to come will be household names and building a strong career in fashion journalism. Passion drives her in everything she does and she shows us how to follow our dreams in an unknown world.
Even if Paris and fashion are not your scene, the book will strike a chord with all travellers intent on following their dreams in a world they may know nothing about, yet their heart knows this is where they need to be.
Julie Berzins, Curtin Cruise & Travel
My Paris Dream is chic chick lit for those of us who have ever entertained the fantasy of living the dream overseas. Written by the former editor of Vogue and Harpers Bazaar, Kate Betts, this is slightly less about travel, than about French couture.
Leaving her privileged Princeton upbringing behind to try finding herself in Paris, Kate immerses herself in the journey of breaking the Gallic codes of manners, language and style. Ambition driven, she takes on every journalistic assignment on offer, rising through the ranks and finally impressing the illustrious John Fairchild publisher of the influential Women’s Wear Daily. Along the way she rubs shoulders and befriends the likes of Lagerfeld, St Laurent, Galliano and Anna Wintour.
Kate eloquently describes Paris of the 1980s – the trends, the sights, the sounds and atmosphere of the city of love and light, that only an expat could depict.
If you love Paris, add this to your reading list.
Anita Kettniss
I really enjoyed this book as it brought back my own memories of being an exchange student in France when I was 17 and returning 5 years later – alas I didn’t get to stay and work. Her stories of her Paris life to her aspiring career in the French Fashion world was colourful and amusing. It was well written and tells a light hearted story of life, love and the highs and lows of the Parisian/French fashion industry”
Philippa Walker, Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection
