spin the wheel
the domestic minx
32 Comments
"Claire, I feel the need to reinvent myself!" she says as we settle into our first glass of champagne. "I want to turn myself around."
I sit opposite my friend and take in the image of loveliness before me.
Rebecca looks sensational. Her elegance and beauty, so obvious in her bearing and good manners, is now as evident in her demeanour as her dignity, and I am dumbfounded.
"I wish I could be as bohemian as you," she adds, pulling at her smart and subdued top and trousers. "I need you to help me free myself."
"Drink that champagne down, darling," I counter, "And we'll discuss the details."
Rebecca is beautiful. And diligent.
For the past five months she has whittled down some serious post-baby weight to become, once more, the beautiful butterfly she was when I met her at 21.
Although she exudes curvacious feminine charm, her demeanour is graceful and elegant; she is the poster girl for Country Road in her conservative teeshirt, slender jeans and quiet earings. And yes, while chic, it is all a little uninspiring. She knows it.
It is the uniform of well-bred sober school-mum smart and frankly, she can do better.
Yet while I can't yet imagine Rebecca frolicking in my own über-boho global chic peasant top with leather belt and boots, jingling and jangling in my oversized gold hoops and multitudinous wooden bangles, I can see a groovy rejuvenation taking place.
"Let's start with the earings" I say as I pour her a second glass.
"The ears alert the world to your sexuality, darling, and no one can hear yours.
While there's no need to be vulgar, I think we can turn up the heat on these babies."
She fingers the elegant diamante studs, "But.."
"Hoops, darling, for the next week. Do it."
Reinvention is a curious prospect.
It is a revolution we all feel the need to support from time to time.
Inevitably it is the result of trauma both spiritual or physical, and one's bodily persona is prescribed to follow suit. Hair is often the victim; hacked, coloured or altered while one's comportment undergoes change, transformative and metamorphosized.
Yet it is hard to leave one's comfort zone. So unchallenged we become by our own visage that the effort involved in transfiguring it is often overwhelming.
Will I look silly? Will others think I am trying too hard? Am I too old? Is it too late? Am I deluded? Why should I bother?
Inevitably, many of us continue on our path, abandoning the yearning to make any adjustment at all. Changing the oil, pumping the tyres and adding a little lubricant may well seem like too much hard work, until it all breaks down.
But it appears there will no more crash and burn on Rebecca's watch.
With grease and oil change almost complete, it is simply my indulgent pleasure to suggest some changes to the paint work.
And yes, I confess that while I am elated that Rebecca seeks reinvention of her fabulous feminine form, my joy competes with the satisfaction of being sought for guidance.
For indeed, the thought of working this quiet revolution, mixing some fabulous magic and casting a spell spectacular is quite intoxicating.
Oh! Spin the wheel!
Let the revolution begin!
Yet indeed, all thoughts of insurgency aside, I'll admit my radical exercise will amount to little more than scraping back the layers of old paint to find Rebecca's Original Minx lying beneath...
And oh, won't she gleam with a little polish!
Sparkling and gleaming with the lustre that comes from years of polish and pit stops,
my Mum's Minx is in good nick.
"I still feel Urges," Mum whispers to me over dinner, as we join her and husband Les for their anniversary at the Casino.
"I don't understand why I want to be so naughty!"
"You're a minx, Mum," I explain, noticing her elegant gold hoop earings as she smoothes the black dress over her finely stockinged legs and tosses her blonde curls.
"And you're quite a punter too," I add, as an announcement reveals that Mum's earlier flutter at the roulette table has garnered enough money to pay for the three course meal we are enjoying at our five star dining establishment.
"It is because I am spontaneous," she enthuses as the roulette table beckons once more after dinner.
"Spin the wheel!" she cries.
And despite a rolling of eyes, some gratuitous naysaying and the inevitable words of caution, even the roulette table kneels at the altar of Minx to honour one of the best.
Fifteen minutes and four tigers later my Mum, full of mirth and mischief, has paid for the room and a buffet breakfast the next morning.
Indeed, at sixty seven, she remains a force to be reckoned with, for in her spirited embracing of life, the twinkle in her eye and that deliciously naughty spontaneity, she is a lesson to women half her age.
Smart, sexy, saucy and sensational, she is polished to perfection.
She knows how to spin the wheel; she still conjures, she firmly embodies, she continues to polish her paint work in the constant reinvention of The Minx.
And yes, I feel compelled to use her as an example when next I talk to Rebecca...
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Reader Comments (32)
Ah! but that's the secret isn't it Minx? Minxiness is on the inside....all the rest follows. Some of us have it more than others....she ponders as she remembers that her ear pearcings have closed from disuse -..."" The ears alert the world to your sexuality, darling..."" Ouch
Your mother sounds like quite the Minx, dear Minx!
Wonderful post :) I feel minxified and compelled to keep working at my program :)
Um...does this mean that the large pearl studs, husband's oversized tee, black stretch Nike shorts and tennies don't cut the mustard? Oh -- I forgot the pony. It sure is comfy and certainly cost effective. Sad, surely, but I'm rather attached to my pearls. There could be a bit of hope. I'm traveling to LA soon to have my hair done a different color. Photos, perhaps?
Two words for Rebecca - Urban Outfitters.
Now while the clothes may seem a bit teenage or early twenties, O. is infatuated by their accessories. A fun, colorful bracelet, a dangly necklace with a gold virgin Mary on the bottom of it, a frisky little brown hat that seems to be plain until, upon closer inspection, one sees the "I heart Satan" stitched in red on the back.
Go Rebecca. Go forth and accessorize.
O.'s fashion rule has been for years to wear AT LEAST one "fun" thing a day - socks, a bright red ring, a rubber bracelet under a business suit - try it. It works!
Yes indeed, Thinista, Minx begins on the inside, shining through our veneers in a lovely luminescence.
We can apply it to the exterior certainly, but it is something that must be lived and breathed from the inside out for it to be so deliciously sparkling - and authentic.
Oh the sadness of the hole grown over...
xox
She is utterly and deliciously darling, Lord Likely.
I have learnt well, sitting at her pretty feet..
xox
When I look at my Mum, I know there is hope for us all.
She still rocks the house!
She is a proper minx and proud of it.
I feel magnified by your minxification but I have always thought you keep your paint job in perfect shape, Jafabrit!!
You are an inspiration to me with your taut and tantalizing art and your sassy, saucy, spuggy expression!!!
xox
Kellypea, you are simply delicious and I actually think you would look pretty damn hot in a paper bag!
Sometimes I think the oversized man's tshirt look can be rather risque. In my case it is, literally, too much. Unless I combine it with The Boots. You know the ones...
LA for the hair, darling? Wow.
You have great hair. You must post photos again!!
xox
Ah yes, O, Urban Outfitters!!
Very cool...
Their accessories are deliciously subversive...
now I would definitely love the frisky little brown hat with the I heart Satan stitching.
(making mental note to purchase said item)
Certainly Rebecca needs a little pizazz.
She is so beautiful and has worked so hard to look so gorgeous.
A little friskiness will make her little heart sing!
She will love it that you suggested this too..x
O, I do so believe in wearing a fun thing everyday.
I ALWAYS slip something subversive and unexpected into my daily repertoire...
Hee!
xox
You are so right!
When I decided to forgo corporate elegance and money to provide it to stay at home with a baby, my husband said 'arn't you worried you'll let yourself go?'
Let myself what!
While I may still be a little overweight post baby, adorning myself, transforming and celebrating my individuality is a delightful hobby! I'm not high maintenance, but I have style and I celebrate it. I'm proud to say after 3 years at home I still don't own a tracksuit, but I have a fine collection of child-friendly accessories and amazing skirts.
If you don't celebrate yourself and who you can be, nobody else will either. Tell her that from me, and good luck with the program, I'm sure she'll be fabulous!
Oh, the very thought of 'letting oneself go' is horrendous!!
Purchasing a tracksuit seems to provide an impetus to it's untimely development somehow...
You are an utterly glorious individual Michelle, smart, stylish and, dare I say, a little saucy..
Your creations ensure you will never grow tired.
Certainly you will be celebrated, for you are sensational!!
I praise Rebecca for rising like a fabulous Phoenix, dusting away those ashes in her typically elegant manner!
Now the fun begins - it is time to sex it up a notch!!
xox
i do so need a reinvention... how i wish you could take me under your graceful,,, yet ever so bohemian,,, wing.....
And you know darling, that it would be my infinite pleasure...
It is, in fact, something that I love to do - to take people under my wing ...
For Reinvention, and her sister Joy, are both related to Hope.
I have just read this lovely poem and find it so appropriate now, somehow:
Hope is the thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson.
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me."
I found this posted on Jean's sumptuous blog:
"Snap out of it Jean, there's beading to be done!"
http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/
Just gorgeous...
Hop under my feathers...
xox
if anyone is going to unleash or uncover the minx deep inside, it would be the domestic minx. i have no doubt about that ;)
Ah Raffi, the thrill of the unleashing, the deliciousness of delving deeply in search of the minx...
It is rather a passion of mine, you know.
It is always a joy when the subject is willing!!
xox
Dear Minx you have so inspired me to try out those earrings! I have never been so bold or so daring to even think about the danglys...I have always wore studs :)
This is what women need to do for each other...provide a little spice to the sauce of life.
You're exactly what every woman needs, Minx. Methinks a Minx's Guide to Living the Saucy Life is the book you should write.
Seriously.
Earrings should be big, bold and fabulous...studs should be saved for somber occasions, woodwork and oggling over a tasty beverage pool side. Ha ha.
xoxo
Mistress M
minx, you are such a sweetheart. I am so glad I cam across your blog.
"And yes, I confess that while I am elated that Rebecca seeks reinvention of her fabulous feminine form, my joy competes with the satisfaction of being sought for guidance."
I hope you know that when I am ready for my makeover YOU are IN CHARGE. I would love for you to dress me up and make me over into a fashionable minx.....