Loafer Vauban

Forever snapshots

He wears white gurkha shorts, a button-down cotton shirt, a beautiful Serica watch, thick hair, he is sitting with his legs crossed, he is wearing his pair of Vauban. Aluminum Table and chair, the seaside in the back. The place is Florida. Taken with a polaroid.

He is standing in front of New York taxi, wearing light-coloured chinos, a cream polo shirt, a small Haliburton suitcase, a tobacco linen Paperboy cap and a pair of ebony brown Vauban. He seems to be looking at something high up in the sky, or is he smiling at someone leaning at the window of a flat? His bull terrier on a leash jumps out of the cab onto the sidewalk. Taken with a Minolta and Agfa film (as written on the back of the photo).

They are walking up the Avenue de Breteuil in Paris, sometime in September, he in a flannel suit, leaning on his striped umbrella, his feet in the autumn leaves. She, pleated skirt and her large ball necklace standing by his side, tilting her head with her big smile. It’s a black and white photo. In the background, one recognizes the Place Vauban.

He poses in front of what appears to be a wall of huge stones. Is it in Baalbeck or Saint-Malo? He has a lot of allure and is wearing his old pair of Nylor sunglasses. The picture is slightly blurry, he is barefoot, carrying his tireless black Vauban in his hands.

Who is it? That’s him. It’s her. It’s me. And it’s you.