I vividly remember the first time I was patronized in the workplace; I was fifteen. As I look young for my age being underestimated happens still. Women are supposed to want to look young, but it’s made it more difficult to be taken seriously in the boardroom. Many things can work against you in “the boardroom.” So, when I was twelve, I wore some colorful socks to school and this was apparently a very big deal in America and the kids mocked me. Rather than retreat into mortif

My partner was a little bit unintentionally dismissive when I told him how much my girlfriends and I have enjoyed watching The Crown. It was something like “Oh, you enjoy the pretty settings and costumes?” And I hadn’t considered why I enjoy watching it, but my gut apparently knew, and I snapped at him “Do you have any idea how fantastic it is to watch a twenty-year-old girl face down a room of her nation’s most powerful men and they have to listen to her?” No, I don’t think

My eldest has some atypical brain things that make her hilarious and challenging. She’s probably going to be like a friend of mine who failed most classes in high school but then got a perfect score on the SATs. One of her less charming issues is sensory processing. Stuff that most kids can shrug off will make her freak out. Like, instead of removing the tag from the shirt that is bugging her she will become enraged and throw a tantrum about her discomfort. With time and trai

I do enjoy pulling the celebrity-style vintage photos from my family vault to share with you guys. These are from a photo shoot my mother did in Paris for the opera in the late 1960s. Aren’t they just the most? The living end? But with the umbrella and those buildings it’s all a bit Jacques Tati somehow. #fashion #opera #vintagephotography #Paris #JacquesTati #glamour #France #MariaBaroni #1960s #vintagephotos

Being considered the foreign weirdo or nerd at most schools I attended, I didn’t have a lot of friends. I was mostly mocked for my looks. Bullied, in fact. I certainly didn’t have a boyfriend, at least not until senior year when I attended an international boarding school. Looking back on it I find it astounding since I am fabulous, but at the time I believed the kids were right and I was hideous. This meant I did not attend school dances. However, I did befriend adults and a

I had a fair number of technical difficulties with this entry as the reel-to-reel from 1959 was damaged. You’ll hear some interference despite my best efforts to clean up the audio. In any case, this is an 8-minute interview my grandmother did on talk radio in Chicago in 1959, a mere 17 months after arriving in the United States. It’s delightful to hear her broken English and thick French accent. She’s talking here of her process as a portrait artist as she launched the caree

Palavas-les-Flots is a French seaside resort south of Montpelier. My mother, along with her mother and new stepfather, spent a summer vacation in Palavas while my step-grandfather  enjoyed learning how to use new film equipment. I find this movie of my mother getting ready and then enjoying breakfast with her mother the most wonderful of the home movies. Sharing a meal with family brings back memories. My mother marvels at how scrawny they all look; their post-war bodies not

Chicago suburbs, 1950s, USA Maria Baroni with grandmother Elise & mother Helene. Just a little touch of glamor of you on this fine day. #fashion #dressedup #HélèneLasserre #vintagephotographs #vintagephotography #suburbs #Chicago #blackandwhitephoto #vintgefashion #EliseLasserre #fur #hats #1950sfashion #MariaBaroni #vintagephotos

Some vacation photos when my mother was on break from the opera and exploring New Orleans. Some vintage Mod and late 60s style on display. #fashion #vintagephotographs #modstyle #tourist #NewOrleans #sunglasses #vintagefashion #MariaBaroni #1960s #vintagephotos

With a photo of Elise from from a few years prior to that same time period. My grandmother was a very talented artist. The whole family has been immortalized by her deft hand. And twenty years later visiting her daughter and granddaughter in Chicago in the 1950s. #fashion #painting #HélèneLasserre #HectorLasserre #style #portraitartist #vintagephotography #portrait #1930sFrance #artist #EliseLasserre #sketch #France #portraitpainting #vintagephotos

I was represented by an agency and auditioning as a commercial actress so I’ve been expected to keep the same long dirty blonde princess hair with few changes. You’re not supposed to make drastic changes to your appearance so the casting director knows what they’re getting. It’s been all: Hair is a ridiculous thing for women. I don’t think most men realize how fraught it is for us, and how loaded with cultural significance. Women will mourn for weeks if they get a bad haircut

My partner occasionally asks me if I miss working in Hollywood. It’s something I ponder when I see my industry friends achieve ever greater levels of success. I am exceedingly proud of my friends because I know exactly how hard they worked to get “overnight” success. I do miss the creative atmosphere and the group of talented people that surrounded me and inspired me to create my own work. There was plenty of glitz and we did enjoy attending premier parties. Even if the movie

Matching outfits and travel with your poodle, Gigi, on your lap. [Helen Lasserre & Maria Baroni] I know we had PanAm swag all over the house when I was growing up so these photos are from the early 70s. Most common airports for us were Idelwild & Charles de Gaulle. I still get a special thrill when it’s a flight you have to disembark by walking across the tarmac. It feels particularly glamorous because it’s usually a smaller airplane and it seems like private movie-star trave

My partner bought himself a pair of winter boots yesterday. I pointed out that he had inadvertently bought the exact pair I’ve owned for several years. And so begins are slow, inexorable ascent into the matching tracksuit firmament. Note this as the moment when our future as an elderly couple in Florida began to wheedle its claws into us like an adorable kitten. Joey & Mel Schwanke looking swanky… save room at the canasta table for me. #fashion #Florida #canasta #retirement #

My Canadian friends have offered advice about what winter wear products I’ll need to survive my first proper cold season. I was having a nice time putting things into a wish list and sourcing hats and coats and such online and then I started to have this weird feeling like I’d seen this sartorial elegance somewhere before. *sigh* I very nearly dressed myself as Joel Fleischman from Northern Exposure circa 1993. Catastrophe averted! I’m looking at fire-engine red coats now ins

This advice may sound silly, but it will save you time and hassle. Give it a try. If you’re an infrequent traveler, do a test pack one week before your trip. Leave your suitcase open in your bedroom. Through the rest of the week you’ll remember items you meant to pack and toss them into the suitcase. You’ll also realize you over-packed on other items and edit out things you won’t need. Before you test pack, put everything you’re bringing across your bed and take a picture of

My diva mother cavorting around Paris in the 1970s. You can hear her singing a duet with Jean-Claude Calon in the link below. The images in the video are super French: the Eiffel Tower, buying roasted chestnuts, visiting the outdoor artist salons, having a cafe in the park… the whole thing. Maria Baroni & Jean-Claude Calon Serge Clin in a duet from La vie parisienne (Parisian life) is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, composed by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Henri Meilha

You may have noticed that I occasionally comment on episodes of Mad Men. Yes, like most TV addicts I acknowledge the superior quality of this show and the way it has the ability to suck us into the storyline like these characters are real people. For the first few years I strongly resisted watching the show. I’d seen one of the early episodes and it gave me a lot of negative feelings because it was so accurate. The only people I didn’t loathe were the women and they were trea

Allow me to reflect on the irrepressibly quirky character of Dean Pelton on the TV show, Community. The work of Jim Rash is superb. The similarities between the Dean and (the-artist-formerly-known-as) Prince jumped to mind last night. Someone mentioned how odd it is for someone like Prince to have come out of a famously “normal” place like Minnesota. This fact doesn’t surprise me at all. Not only are Dean Pelton and Prince both diminutive, pan-sexual flamboyants with a fondne