French Words I Like Today...

Ever since I started taking lessons on how to brush up my speaking skills in a certain language at Alliance Française, certain words have been virtually leaping off the tattered pages of my Webster's Dictionary onto my tongue. Especially ones that have to do with fashion. Those I just love to toss up and down in my mouth, and pretend I'm a native, living in Paris, with a full-view of the Eiffel Tower from my window, where I can sit and eat brie cheese all day and not gain an ounce: (Who knows? It could actually happen, not the latter but the former.)

• aigrette. n. a tuft or spray, as of feathers, diamonds, etc. the small white heron; an egret. The aigrette on your chapeau is just lovely, Madame. I do hope those jewels do not come from a South African mine.
  
• ampoule. n. a small sealed glass container holding hyperdemic dose. The ampoule pinned on her lapel could not support a peony, it's so small!
• amulet. n. talisman, a charm. The young girl considered the Hello Kitty necklace an amulet; she always aced her exams when she wore it.
• arras. n. tapestry; tapestries, used as wall hangings. I don't have carpets in my atelier, I have arras from Ikea.
• balletomane. n. an enthusiast for ballet. You're a balletomane? Me too! Don't you just adore Mikhail Baryshnikov?
• bombazine, bombasine. n. a twilled fabric of silk and worsted or cotton. Do you think I could find some bombazine at Mood Fabrics in New York or am I just dreaming?
• kepi. n. a light military cap. flat-topped with a straight peak. A kepi! That will be just the thing to wear with that Issey Miyake outfit. You don't know what a kepi is?
  
• moiety. n. half. You can have moiety of my fabric collection. Really, I don't mind. No, wait. Am I on drugs? No, you can have a swatch, just one. That's it!