Channel This Winter Mood: Frazzled English Woman
Image Courtesy: Bridget Jones’s Diary / Miramax
The winter season typically brings sentiments of gloom. The snow quickly turns into gray slush, the sun sets at an unfair time, and the bitter cold brings blistering wind. With this weather hitting even areas like North Florida with snow, no one is safe.
One way to fight the blues is to romanticize your setting. If you are an avid romantic comedy consumer, you might be aware of a particular archetype: the Frazzled English Woman.
She is someone who encapsulates all the traits of the leading lady in a 90s to early 2000s rom-com. She has a charming publishing, journalism, or public relations job. She could be the fashion editor of a prestigious magazine. Or she leads film sets as the woman in front or behind the camera. She’s a woman of multitudes by excelling in some aspects of her life (work, social) while failing in others (often love).
Often, she’s clumsy or just has terrible luck. Her purse gets stuck on door knobs, she slips on patches of ice, but all of it is surprisingly endearing. In any compelling love story, a unique meet-cute or first interaction with the love interest is vital. Typically, it will be an ordinary scene where the man offers the woman a drink, but for the Frazzled English Woman, it has to be a mortifying exchange. For example, her coffee run will go haywire, with a rogue cup flying all over her co-worker and coincidently sworn enemy’s white button-up.
We cannot begin to discuss this topic without mentioning the original: Bridget Jones, played by Renée Zellweger. The Bridget Jones is a film series that follows a single woman in her thirties living in London. She’s a binge drinker and chain smoker, balancing her publishing job with her tumultuous love life. Her life is incredibly messy, with people criticizing her unhealthy habits and questionable choices. But despite all odds, she lands a TV presenter gig with her eccentric personality. All while managing a love triangle between Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant).
Image Courtesy: Bridget Jones’s Diary / Miramax
In The Holiday, Iris Simpkins, played by Kate Winslet, experiences the joys of living both in the English countryside and the city. During the day, she is a society columnist for The Daily Telegraph in London. There she is, working last minute on her article deadlines and hopelessly in love with ex-boyfriend and co-worker Jasper Bloom. She’s just like the rest of us!
Her love affair with Jasper is equivalent to Carrie Bradshaw and Big. Even though Jasper has cheated on her in the past and is currently in a relationship, she still holds out hope each day in the office with yearning looks and a bruised heart.
Then, at the fated office Christmas party, when love and hope are at an all-time high during the holiday season, Jasper announces his engagement. Obviously heartbroken, she escapes the office and bustling streets of London in tears. She then returns home to her charming cottage in the English countryside with a snow-dusted roof and smoking chimney. She, like Briget Jones, will drown her sorrows in a tub of ice cream or a bottle of wine after a quarrel with her lover—all in cozy pajamas beside a crackling fireplace.
Image Courtesy: The Holiday / Universal Pictures
Fashion-wise, the Frazzled English Woman is seen wearing a long wool trench coat with a thick fuzzy scarf to keep her warm from the wind and snow. Then, she will be seen wearing her trusty office pencil skirt with black tights that have runs in them from some clumsy incident she had while getting ready in the morning. Or she will be seen in a classic blue jean or black slacks. Then she throws on a fuzzy sweater to top it off. Then, she’s sporting a messy bun in classic female lead fashion.
Image Courtesy: Getty Images
If we were to put a soundtrack to her life, it would include English artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Amy Winehouse, and Olivia Dean. Their songs would play while strolling down city streets on her way to work or the local pub. If these descriptions piqued your interest and inspired you to channel your inner Frazzled English Woman, check out our curated playlist on Spotify.
Strike Out,
Kim Nguyen
Boca Raton
Kim Nguyen is a Content Writer for Strike Magazine Boca. When not overthinking, this fangirl is either consuming romance media, Vietnamese coffee, or Beyoncé's discography. You can reach her by email at kimvunguyen14@gmail.com or on Instagram @kimnguyen1_.
