The Ultimate Daydreamer: An interview with Madeliene Rose by Nell Rochas
There are people in this world who march to the beat of the time on their watch.
Rushing from one moment to the other and forgetting a time when they knew how to be still, when they would watch the world go by and daydream for doses of inspiration.
Then there are some people who have a rich inner life. These people are the ones who somehow, manage to lose themselves in their dreamy world, rather than in the chaotic one we all know.
Madeliene Rose is one of these people, and through her stories, which she publishes online, she wants to gives us all a lesson on how to use daydreams to create a more beautiful life for ourselves.
Q: Tell us about your blog
A: Madeliene Rose is a place where the worlds of fashion and literature are celebrated through short stories. The stories are a reflection of my daydreams, so you will find a story about me wearing Valentino while dining with the French writer Marcel Proust or one about me wearing a simple green dress because it reminds me of a character in a Virginia Woolf novel.
The stories fall under three categories — fashion, conversations with writers and literary characters, as well as the blues and the reds. The last category, inspired by Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (“The mean reds”) includes stories of this fictional, blue-velvet like village where the people I see in my daydreams happen to live.
Q: What made you start your blog?
A: I have always loved fashion, and books have given me hours of company when I felt like I didn’t belong anywhere. Before fashion or books however, there was daydreaming. I can remember from early on daydreaming everywhere — on buses and during class, while walking and even when people talked to me. It was, and still is, very easy for me to switch off and daydream.
Q: Can you mention some of the characters in this dreamy village of yours?
A: There is the flower hoarder. She is this enigmatic woman who stays locked in her house surrounded by flowers. I always write about how I like to wear a floral dress whenever I go and visit her, just in case. There’s a butcher who loves his suits and ties, and the woman who hides her smiles with her scarves. The fashion element is strong in this village and it is as much of a protagonist as the characters.
Q: Is it true that your name isn’t Madeliene Rose?
A: No, Madeliene Rose is not my real name and that’s because when we daydream, we often have an alter ego and she is mine. I wrote the story in my About page about the first time I saw Madeliene Rose. She may be a dreamy version of me but I remember the day when I could see her coming towards me — bold, free and wholly engrossed in the things she was passionate about. Somewhere in between jobs I had forgotten to daydream, to write, to be creative and most importantly, to be passionate about life. With this blog, I have become more Madeliene Rose than the name the people around me choose to call me with.
Q: What do you hope to do for your readers through this website?
A: Obviously I want readers to enjoy the stories. I want them to love how I act when I have tea with The Mad Hatter or when I visit Jane Eyre right before she goes back to Mr Rochester. I want them to see how dreamy a pleated skirt can be and I want them to experience the hauntingly beautiful whenever there is a story about my fictional village. Mostly however, I want my readers to learn how to see beauty in the everyday and be able to find that dreamy element no matter how hard or boring their life may be at the moment.
Q: What do you mean by the hauntingly beautiful?
A: Well, in fashion and literature there is beauty but both worlds also have that haunting element. In books this is easy to point out in a sentence or a scene, while in fashion I see it in the richness of a velvet top and in the elaborate embellishment of a dress.
This is how I see the hauntingly beautiful in the everyday, even when I am not able to daydream. I wear clothes that remind me of a character or I read a book that brings this element to life. This is also how I hope my readers will carry the hauntingly beautiful in their everyday life, so that no matter how hard or boring it gets, they will know that there is something more to life than this moment.
Q: So how do you spend your everyday?
A: On most days, I spend my mornings and afternoons writing and reading while surrounded by piles of books — this is the only form of claustrophobia that I like. I am either at the library or at my house with my cat sleeping somewhere. When I can’t write, I like to visit Cathedrals. I simply sit on a bench with my notebook and pencil under an unlit chandelier and wait for someone in my head to start talking. The cold granite under my feet and the silence, the frescoes everywhere I rest my eyes and the gold embellishment are all very dramatic and they help with inspiration.
In the evenings I take long walks and daydream about whatever comes to mind.
Q: What about fashion? Where do you get your inspiration from?
A: My love for fashion was established when I was still very young. I remember being fascinated by my mother donning large earrings everywhere she went and that’s where my love of bold jewelry came from. She would also make me watch old movies with her starring Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day, Ingrid Bergman and more of these fashionable women, and that is where my love for timeless and elegant style comes from.
This is why I love pairing knitwear with midi skirts, statement coats with gloves and heels — lots of heels. Although, being a constant daydreamer, there is a huge risk of injury in wearing heels while daydreaming.
Q: What’s the best thing that has come out of this blog?
A: Meeting new people who love reading and fashion as much as I do, at least virtually. With Instagram especially, it’s wonderful to have people comment about why they love a certain book or leave a note about the fashion details that I post. Besides the community, the blog in itself feels like a diary of my inner life and it is wonderful to go back to old stories and read what I was daydreaming at that time.
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We all have our daydreams, that I am sure of, but I am also certain that few people have utilized their daydreams in such a creative way. For a daily dose of dreamy inspiration, you can follow Madeliene Rose on Instagram or Twitter. You can also visit her website and read stories detailing her latest daydreams.
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Guest interview by Nell Rochas