I really didn't understand the whole mi-saison concept when I came to France—and I still don't get how you can be between two seasons when everyone knows it has to be one of the four. Of course, in Southern California, there really weren't seasons at all, so I could wear pretty much everything all year round (I didn't hear about "no white shoes before Memorial Day or after Labor Day" till college). Anyway, in Paris, I guess that mi-saison means you can go outside without wool tights or a coat but not with bare legs or arms. What usually happens, though, is that you have people who just aren't ready for the last season to end (and so continue sporting sandals and mini-skirts over their goose-pimply legs well into October) and those who can't wait to start showing off their up-and-coming winter fashion feats (and so start wearing high-heeled bottines and retro wool hats in August). Maybe this mi-saison, it's time for a compromise—I'm thinking white boots. . .
Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly. [Online image] 1961.
