Joan, The Ark.

Joan Didion, John Dunne, and daughter Quintana in the photo from the back cover of her memior The Year of Magical Thinking.

I'm reading Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. It is striking in its leveled sadness, its calm, and its intensity. Joan's demeanor is captivating, just like her image. I know what Joan looks like now: lithe, whisper-weight, but solid as a rock. Her bones may be showing, but her large eyes show too and they are full of steady strength. And, from what I could tell from the old photo on the back cover of the book, that strength has been there all along. Her younger days, spent behind a desk at Vogue magazine, or penning cultural critique essays for Life or Time, were full of boldness. You can see it in pictures of Joan past and present. Solid as a rock.

Joan today.


Joan with a portrait of her late husband, John Dunne.


Joan in an old photo with her daughter.


Driven. Smoking.


Ah, this is where the Olsens got the idea!


I think Wintour may have taken inspiration from Joan as well...


She looks amazing in a car.


Joan in 1956.

That's it, I've found a new style inspiration. My new shopping M.O.? WWJD (what would Joan do?). She's phenomenal. Read her books.