Well yesterday I took my bike out from the cellar where it has been abandoned for the whole winter. And I rode it for the whole three hours listening to my iPod and enjoying the looseness accompanied by. I love doing it. It’s really freeing. It makes me feel like a bird. Almost flying. After the ride I had remembered Catherine Baba, an Australian living in Paris, a stylist and sartorial genius. The woman with truly original style.

I call her “The women on the bike”. Unlike the plethora of editors arriving in black cars, Baba rides her bicycle to all the Paris fashion shows. With a black canvas satchel strapped to the frame, she locks it against a lamppost and trots across the Jardin des Tuileries to watch the models stomp it out.

If that’s not amazing enough, she always rides in heels. Extremely high ones!

Ms. Baba only wears vintage fur. “Because I am against the suffering of animals, I wear only vintage fur. And I think that a sable would be delighted to know that it is worn by beautiful people, in sumptuous décors.”

She answers the phone by crying, “DARLING!” reads Colette obsessively and lives in Montparnasse.

Baba has lived in Paris for over 15 years, and in that time, she has worked for Chanel, Givenchy, Balmain and Ungaro (among others). Her styling work is beautiful, but the reason she has been crowned most stylish woman in Paris is because of her strong sense of personal style!

Baba has truly transformed herself into a character—one who has captured the imagination of everyone around her.

I love all about her. Especially her bike.

Do you ride one?

Pictures by Tommy Ton, TFS, Yvan Rodic

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