February 3, 2004

Cinderella's Dilemma

Madame Paulette Stain Removal Kit

It happens all the time. You’re perched at an eighteenth-century table in a palazzo. A dashing Francesco gazes adoringly at you as you delicately lift a forkful of white-truffle risotto to your lips …

And promptly drop it onto your couture lap. Truffle oil on taffeta: not what Dr. Valentino ordered.

No problem, fair princess. If you were stateside, you’d take the mess to Madame Paulette, New York’s renowned dry cleaner. She’d make that puppy as good as new. But you’re in Italy, dammit, and a first-class ticket back to New York does not figure into this fairy tale. (At least not in this chapter.)

Madame Paulette to the rescue anyway. Her Professional Stain Removal Kit contains three special, top-secret formulas. The first handles earth stains, like fruit juice and liquor (Bellini stuck in cashmere); the second is for protein-based stains, like perspiration and blood (tennis, anyone?); the third erases oil-based errors (see aforementioned couture faux pas).

And all are much more dignified than club soda on a restaurant napkin.

Available online at madamepaulette.com.