I quietly took it to pieces

California School nude, 1900-1930s, $24,800

The next day we received three wreaths which grieved me to the heart; diadems that bulged in the middle like the ones country brides wear; how on earth could one look pretty in that? Marie and Anais, enraptured, tried theirs on in the midst of an admiring circle of juniors; I said nothing, but I took my accessory home where I quietly took it pieces. Then, on the same wire frame, I reconstructed a fragile, slender wreath with the big, starry marguerites placed as if by chance, ready to drop away; two or three flowers hung in bunches about my ears, a few trailed behind in my hair... Claudine at School, Colette, 1900