The Summer Of Rétour
I'm lying in bed in my best friend's loft apartment, tucked away in the heart of the Marais.
Where I will spend my summer while my friend is away on holiday.
Down on the street, Paris is still buzzing.
But up here, everything is quiet.
Most of the neighbours have left for summer holidays, and the only thing I can hear through the open window is the occasional scooter passing below.
I'm looking across the rooftops at flower pots and stacks of fashion magazines resting on nearby windowsills.
You can immediately tell this apartment belongs to a stylist. Five years ago we met in French class.
Today, this place feels like my second home where I come for creative refuge and to clear my mind.
Four slow weeks in my favourite city in the world.
People always ask if I'm travelling this summer.
Honestly...
Nowhere sounds more appealing than an empty Paris in August.
No beach.
No airports.
Just quiet mornings, healthy food, long walks, coffee, notebooks...
...and Rétour.
The project I've carried around for years.
The magazine that has lived in folders, moodboards and unfinished drafts.
But after everything that's happened over the past months...
it finally feels obvious.
It's time.
The strange thing is...
Looking back, it almost feels as if every chapter of my life has quietly been preparing me for this one.
Reading fashion magazines as a little girl because they became a place to escape.
Writing a blog when I was nineteen simply because I wanted a small corner of the internet that belonged to me.
Watching it unexpectedly become the biggest blog in my city.
Working as a fashion buyer throughout my twenties, travelling, learning how the fashion industry really works.
Leaving it all behind.
Falling in love with photography.
Then branding.
Then world-building.
Trying to force a photography business because I needed the income.
Watching something I loved slowly become something that no longer felt like me.
Closing the studio.
Getting quiet.
Listening.
Really listening.
And somewhere in that silence...
Rétour was still there.
Waiting.
For a long time I thought I was changing direction.
Now it feels more like I've been circling back to the thing I secretly wanted all along.
“ The Return To Yourself”
Day 01 of The Summer of Buidling Rétour Magazine
I have this feeling that I just embarked on this new adventure.
Mary
