My first Real Woman wearing other brands will be Catharine Patha.  Most of you have probably already met her because she has been instrumental in helping me run my business over the years.  One of her distinguishing features is her bicycle which she never goes anywhere without, therefore I decided it absolutely had to be in this photograph!  I looked up the definition of 'Renaissance Woman' and that she is:  a woman who has broad intellectual interests and is accomplished in areas of both the arts and sciences.  Here's to Catharine...

1.  What do you do?

I was Britt Lintner's MD, but now that I'm heading to Singapore I'm taking the opportunity to work on a book I've wanted to write about people living and working globally in the 21st Century. The book's working title is The Accidental Migrant and I'm calling this peripatetic international life roaming.

Roamers are well-educated, highly skilled international people who move from country to country seeking career opportunities, adventure, intellectual stimulation and a better lifestyle.  They may also live full-time in a foreign country, perhaps they've even acquired a local passport, but they've never committed to staying for good.  They're living in their adopted country 'for now.' They'd never consider themselves immigrants.

Nor, however, would they consider themselves expats.  Traditionally, expats were those who travelled abroad receiving high compensation for the inconvenience of living away from home.  Roamers, on the other hand, actively seek out an international career and life, and generally are not granted extra compensation for living abroad. Where expats are living 'ex patria' or away from the fatherland and are expecting to be 'repatriated', roamers may never expect to return to their home country and often grapple with the once simple question, 'Where's home?'  

Roamers regularly marry outside of their native culture, often choosing other roamers, and raise their children in a third place (e.g. Hong Kong, Singapore or London).  As careers in a globalised world increasingly require us to move to foreign countries, roamers are becoming ever more prevalent and this lifestyle is raising interesting questions for individuals, families and governments who are just beginning to recognise this new phenomenon. 

I followed a scholarship to the London School of Economics to do a Masters Degree in Sociology and have since been living the life of a roamer.  In London, there are several hundred thousand roamers and I'm just back from Singapore and Hong Kong where I was researching and interviewing the roamer communities there.  I'm off to Boston and New York at the end of the month to conduct more interviews.

If you are a roamer, are interested in my research and are available for a short interview, please get in touch with me on cmpatha@gmail.com.  Or you can help by filling out my online survey by clicking here.  Thank you!

2.  What brands are you wearing?

I'd describe my eclectic style as decadence meets rock 'n roll chic.  I love mixing it up.  I'm wearing a Hermes scarf, a Hugo Boss leather jacket, a blouse from a Marylebone charity shop and cargo pants from Zara.  The belt is from Reiss and the ring is Bex Rox.  My trademark accessory is my Dutch bicycle.  I'm not into brands - I just like anything that's made with TLC.  It took me ages to find a quality handbag without branding.  I love Oliver Goldsmith sunglasses because they're excellent quality, but aren't branded.  Silence speaks volumes.  Thanks to Mats Kleinberg of Trunk, the best menswear shop in the city, for turning me on to them!

3.  Where are you going today?

I'm heading to Notting Hill to interview a gipsy for my book.

Britt's two cents:  Catharine usually wears a muted color palette (as do I) although she recently started adding a shot of color, usually in the form of a scarf or other accessory, which really lifts the army greens she prefers.  Besides bright scarves (make sure they have a lot of volume, it's key!), another great accent is via your shoes, a look of mine throughout this summer was fluorescent orange Nicholas Kirkwood shoes (shocking raspberry Gina ones too, their new big platform hit with the quasi-bow on the toe, thank you Marigay McKee for the tip last year!) with nothing but black & jewellery up top.  Neon shoes were very trendy this season but inexpensive if you spend on one item and mix it with the rest of the classics in your closet to keep you on-trend.